Small Farms Initiative

Nothing “Small” about the Small Farms Initiative

By Marcel Menard

The Emerald Cup’s Harvest Ball is a yearly beacon for the cannabis community. It’s an event where all can gather and passionately celebrate the work of their fellow farmer. This year, the Emerald Cup Harvest Ball has partnered once again with California craft farms to give them an opportunity to participate as vendors in their world famous marketplace and consumption lounges.

The Small Farms Initiative program provides craft farms the chance to be seen and celebrated by the diehard seasoned attendees and newly canna-curious crowds looking for the latest farm fresh flower, genetics, or wellness products.

At the 2022 Harvest Ball, ten licensed mixed light and outdoor farms with a canopy of 10,000 sq. ft. or less, were chosen from a lottery from the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, Nevada, Sonoma, Lake, Calaveras, and Santa Cruz.

The ten farms selected were given the option to invite one additional farm to share their booth, which resulted in twenty farms receiving a complimentary vending space. The program went even further to ensure that all farmers are able to participate; organizers gave an additional eight farms the opportunity for a steep booth discount, and awarded ten free competition entries to the upcoming 2023 Emerald Cup Awards competition to applicants who were not selected for a booth space in 2022.

What’s all the buzz about the Small Farms Initiative? Well, there is nothing “small” about the aforementioned farms. The Small Farms Initiative was formed in response to the crisis that the California cannabis industry has found itself in by a special group of cannabis leaders and stewards, many of whom are part of multi-generational family farms.

This special group includes the Cup’s founder Tim Blake, Michael Katz of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, Genine Coleman of Origins Council, Chris Anderson of Redwood Roots Distribution, Nicholas Smilgys of Mendocino Cannabis Distribution, Traci Pellar of the Mendocino Producers Guild, and Brandy Moulton of Sovereign 707. These farmers represent the tradition and heritage we are trying to save from extinction.

To put this all in context, California has long been one of the most renowned regions on the planet for cannabis culture and cultivation. The families that made cannabis farming their way of life since the late sixties risked serious consequences and persevered through sweaty guerilla grow tactics as they grinded season after season.

These same folks figured out how to run cultivation operations despite endless obstacles – from raids and overhead helicopters, to oasis gardens tucked deep into the misty forest ridges of the Triangle. These pioneers are truly the bedrock that built the industry. Without the back-to-the-landers and outlaw renegades, the heritage genetics that built West Coast chronic and the OG cultural mecca of Cali weed might have never existed.

To better understand why small farmers are at risk of extinction, we need to familiarize with California’s regulatory history. In 1996, California ushered in the voter passed medical programs of Prop 215, and it was the same lifelong activists and cultivators that led the charge of cannabis buyers clubs and compassion programs that made this program a reality.

During this time, farmers were tasked with how to adapt and survive in a new era of oncoming cannabis retail, as well as the latest iteration of the War on Drugs. It was also when we entered the shades of the ‘Grey Zone’. This period saw new brands and strains popping up seemingly overnight, and many farmers and business owners navigated with feet in both markets to survive.

For many of these farms, it was like they had stepped into an open bear trap, and it was only a matter of time before it snapped. Unfortunately, many farms took their last breath and their businesses collapsed. Not only have small farms suffered in this crisis, but the entire supply chain, from growers to retail dispensaries, have been negatively affected by the legislation of Prop 64.

“California’s Cannabis industry is filled with brutal harsh realities. Lawmakers could not have been further away from understanding or identifying with how to create a healthy industry that supports what made California Cannabis so special."

https://theemeraldcup.com/redwood-roots-southern-humboldt-cannabis

By 2016, the locomotive of speculation drove the regulated marketplace and bore the billionaire endorsed Proposition 64. This was the beginning of the most significant extinction event for small farms. For many it was writing on the wall they needed to see, as many lifelong farmers exited the legal space and went back to the traditional way of doing things, or shut down operations altogether.

Ironically, this period was also a renaissance of sorts. Some brands and home growers could now legally grow their own six plants, but that wasn’t enough to help farmers afford the massive cost of entering and surviving regulation. Many farms were able to obtain a license, but as the price per pound plummeted, over taxation and licensing greed ramped up.

"What promised to be equitable for small craft ”legacy” farmers, who grew Cannabis illegally and were treated like murderers by law enforcement and the government during Cannabis prohibition, turned out to be the exact opposite. It created a rat race to the bottom and invited the worst parts of greed and undeserving opportunism. ”

~ Ganja D from Rebel Grown

Today, the brands and farms who managed to stay alive are some of the most tenacious people out there. They continue to push onward, create value, build community, and keep their heads high for the future. As the California market and other states go through the tumultuous throes of this new industry, one thing is clear – craft cannabis is essential.