Case Study: How Dizgo Built a New Kind of Cannabis Operation 

Overview

When most cannabis operators build a cultivation facility, they start with conventional cultivation practices and adapt them over time. Dizgo did the opposite. 

Located in Faribault, Minnesota, the licensed cultivator and manufacturer operates approximately 5,000 square feet of aeroponic canopy inside a facility that once produced lettuce using commercial vertical aeroponic systems. Rather than tearing out the existing infrastructure, the team embraced it – and saved a ton of money by transforming a former leafy greens operation into one of Minnesota’s most unique cannabis cultivation facilities. 

Launched in April 2026, the company’s cannabis brand, Dizgo,combines premium flower with a mission that celebrates Midwest music culture by supporting local artists through a portion of product sales. 

Leading cultivation and operations is Chief Operational Officer Michelle Keller, whose experience in commercial agriculture proved invaluable during the transition. 

“Basically, I came with the building,” Keller said. 

Because Keller and her cultivation partner had spent years operating the facility’s aeroponic systems before cannabis entered the picture, they understood every valve, pump and irrigation cycle. 

“We are growing aeroponically on a vertical plane,” she explained. “This building used to house an aeroponic lettuce factory, and they left all their toys behind. Everything was here, so we decided to see if we could make it work for cannabis.” 

The Problem

The first challenge was adapting an established commercial aeroponic system to a crop that very few people had ever grown using this method. 

“There isn’t much information out there on aeroponic cannabis,” Keller said. 

Fortunately, the team brought decades of experience with the equipment itself. 

“We just had to change the crop to it,” she said. “That was a huge benefit because we know all the quirks of the aeroponic systems and how to work those in.”  

Ironically, the lack of existing cannabis playbooks became an advantage. 

“The biggest negative is that there’s not much information to pull from,” Keller said. “But that’s also a positive because nobody can tell you that you can’t do something.” 

“We can think outside the box. In fact, the box does not exist for us.” 

That same mindset carried over into post-harvest. 

As Dizgo prepared to enter the cannabis industry, Keller found herself surrounded by advice rooted in traditional cannabis practices rather than commercial agriculture.   

“Before you can get a license, you have to have a dry room,” she said. “Everyone has an opinion about what a dry room is supposed to be.” 

Suggestions ranged from installing a few HVAC units to adding commercial dehumidifiers. 

“Just throw a couple HVACs in there. You’ll be fine,” Keller recalled hearing. 

But after years of managing large-scale agricultural operations, that approach made little sense. 

“A lot of people have opinions, but none of them have been commercially scaled,” she said. “I'm a commercial grower. I’ve been a commercial grower for a long time. The ‘just do this’ approach didn’t seem logical to me.” 

Instead of relying on assumptions, Keller wanted precision. 

The Solution

While planning the cannabis conversion, the Dizgo team attended industry conferences to learn about every aspect of commercial cannabis production. That’s where they first discovered Cannatrol’s Vaportrol® Technology. 

Although working with a limited startup budget, the team quickly recognized that drying, curing and storage represented one of the most important investments they could make. 

“We decided that if we were going to spend money anywhere, we’d get one Cadillac system,” Keller said. “That Cadillac system was going to be for the dry and cure room.” 

Today, Cannatrol technology is integrated throughout Dizgo’s operation. 

The company’s largest system transforms a massive cooler inherited from the former lettuce operation into a controlled post-harvest environment capable of processing approximately 2,000 pounds of wet cannabis while simultaneously serving as both a drying and long-term storage room. 

“That oversized cooler became our storage and dry room combined,” Keller said.   

Dizgo has since expanded its use of Cannatrol technology across multiple workflows. 

A second walk-in system stores cannabis products undergoing remediation for other licensed operators, creating an additional revenue stream while ensuring every product remains under ideal environmental conditions until it is returned. 

“That allows us to keep other people’s products in the correct storage conditions so there isn’t any degradation while it’s in our possession,” Keller explained.   

The company’s Cool Cure unit also provides precision environmental control for long-term cannabis seed storage, protecting valuable genetics for future cultivation. 

The Results

For Keller, the greatest benefit of Cannatrol is simple: Better quality, higher throughput and measurable ROI.   

“If you dry it well, even poor cannabis can be better than excellent cannabis dried poorly,” she said. “I love the challenge of making the product the best product that we can grow and cure. I’m enough of a biologist to make sure the product is the best we can make it.”   

That level of environmental control extends beyond preserving flower quality and directly improves manufacturing performance. Dizgo uses multiple automated pre-roll systems, each requiring cannabis at precise moisture and vapor pressure levels for maximum efficiency. 

“The great thing about Cannatrol is that we can control it to the specifications we need for the next product,” Keller said. “For example, we use two different rolling machines, a cone roller and a cigarette-style rolling machine. They can be finicky, to say the least.” 

Cannatrol’s systems enable Dizgo to consistently and reliably produce product to the exact specifications needed to make best use of the company’s equipment. Because every batch enters production at consistent conditions, the company achieves higher throughput while reducing interruptions caused by improperly conditioned flower. 

“I am able to achieve the production numbers from these machines because we’re at the specifications they need to perform.” 

The financial benefits extend even further. 

By preventing over-drying, Dizgo retains additional saleable weight that would otherwise be lost during traditional drying and curing.   

“We don't over-dry, ever,” Keller said. “That extra couple hundred pounds later adds up to some serious money.” 

According to Keller, the increased manufacturing efficiency and preserved product weight have already generated a return that justifies the investment. 

“Those two advantages basically paid for my Cannatrol, and I’m only six months in.” 

Looking ahead, Keller believes cannabis operators must adopt a broader business mindset as markets mature and margins tighten. 

“To succeed in today’s cannabis industry, you have to know your ROI. You have to know your operating expenses, and you have to know the levers to pull to meet them.” 

As cannabis increasingly becomes a commodity in many markets, Keller sees precision agriculture and controlled post-harvest processing as critical competitive advantages. 

“You’ve got to think about the big picture if you’re going to work in a commoditized market, and the edge Cannatrol provides puts you ahead of the game.”