Seed to Success #2: Jose Dominguez

Award-Winning Medical Grower, Formulator, and CANNA-Backed Consultant 

From Sherbrooke to the Karma Cup podium, Jose Dominguez has spent over two decades turning cultivation into craft and passion into precision. A medical grower since 2003, Dominguez has built a name rooted in consistency, community, and care. He’s the mind behind Neptune brands, Panhash, and Mood Ring, the holder of 46 Cannabis Cup awards, and the founder of Cannacopeia Consulting. Jose’s story is one of intention—guided by science, supported by CANNA, and driven by a belief that great cannabis begins with climate, watering, canopy, and a whole lot of love.

Jose Dominguez entered the medical cannabis industry in 2003, at the same time as his introduction to CANNA as a product line of medium-specific nutrients. He spent 12 years working in retail, where he discovered the standardized product.

“That was very important because, originally, I was growing for medical purposes for people who had pretty severe illnesses,” he says. 

Rather than mixing recipes with limited knowledge, Dominguez leaned into the consistent, high-quality CANNA line, crafted by Dutch chemists.   

“A good grower is no one without a good team”

Born and raised in Sherbrooke, Quebec, as soon as the medical market opened in Canada, Dominguez began growing for patients who are all close friends. 

“Some of them, I was with them until their last day, and some of them are still around today,” he says. 

Paired with working in head shops and then a hydroponic store, he cultivated high-quality products using the CANNA lineup, coaching customers about how to grow better cannabis without looking any further.  

The Early Days of Medical Growing

At the time, there were fewer than 500 registered cannabis patients in Canada, most of whom had a designated grower. The rarity of his role propelled his name and reputation. 

Dominguez also refined his craft with the expertise of CANNA advisors in the past. 

His goal was to introduce different cultivars to patients to improve their lives by harnessing several beneficial effects. Standardization, he found, was key to building a variety of genetics under the same climate, growing medium, and nutrient inputs. This is how he developed his expertise during the MMAR medical cannabis program before 2014. 

Award-Winning Medical Cultivator

In 2010, Dominguez began winning Cannabis Cup awards, a total of 46 in various product categories, which led to the creation of his two leading brands: Panhash and Mood Ring. In 2014, Karma Cup gained mainstream recognition and became the premier competition for medical products in Canada. 

“I cleaned up three awards at the first edition, and from there, mostly every year, I was granted a few first-place awards at the Karma Elite,” he explains.

He won every category, including vape pens, solventless extracts, edibles, hash, flower, and CBD, as one of the pioneers in the industry. 

Dominguez calls the era between 2003 and 2014 “an education crusade” because he was working for himself, his patients, and the community, winning awards, rather than benefiting corporate interests. He became an independent sommelier and was later among the first licensed producers in Canada, licensed in 2016 with BLANK. He then moved on to Neptune Wellness Solutions, where he exercised expertise in areas such as extraction and formulation, quality control, and R&D. 

“You can ask every grower – the biggest challenge in the room is maintaining the climate at all costs,” he explains. 

AI is only as good as the equipment being implemented, and the grower is only as good as their fertigation routine. Plants grow differently in each environment, and due to the consumers’ changing tastes and preference for novelty, “as a grower, you always have to innovate… and [as a sommelier] you have to pick what you think is going to be the best.” That’s why the practice of phenohunting should be in the growers’ wheelhouse. 

“You need to always keep your hand on something, like creating your strains,” he says.

Why CANNA?

Dominguez says CANNA has always been a good supporter, which is a benefit to the work he currently does in the space with his company, Cannacopeia Consulting. 

Warmly, he calls his relationship with CANNA “like old family [because] they were there from the beginning to help me and have always been happy for me when I was earning cups. 

“I always promote CANNA because I think it’s still one of the best standard nutrients there is on the market. I think there are other strong brands out there, but ultimately, I put my trust into the people I believe have the most extensive and deep understanding of the chemistry of their product. So, for me, CANNA is number one. CANNA is family; that’s what it is.” 

Throughout his decades in the field, Dominguez has acquired a strong set of skills beyond cultivation, spanning engineering, chemistry, and quality assurance. He now spends his time helping people from an educational perspective, focusing on audits and various departmental improvements, while continuing his work in genetics and phenohunting. More important than the grow, however, is the effort you put into it.

Jose Dominguez’s Passion for the Job

“A good grower is no one without a good team,” especially when it comes time to harvest, he says. The identity of a product is derived from the drying, curing, and packaging processes. 

“Once it’s in batches, it becomes the identity of what you’re trying to create – the vision of your brand,” Dominguez says. 

In as complex an industry as cannabis, no one survives without intention and a passion for the job. The rule to live by is the one CANNA reps taught him in 2003: Climate, watering, and canopy.

“Three simple words for everyone out there that wants to grow better cannabis,” he affirms. “The rest is your love and passion.”