Since Proposition 19 first proposed the legalization of adult-use cannabis in California in 2010, organizations of small farmers in Humboldt and throughout the state have been driven by a central question: when corporate interests enter the cannabis world, can craft cannabis survive?
Today, in my roles with both the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and Origins Council, this question continues to drive our organizational work. And seven years after the passage of Proposition 64, the answer is still unclear.
As I write this, Humboldt remains home to the greatest number of small cannabis farmers anywhere in the state, half of whom grow under a quarter-acre of cannabis, and 98% of whom grow under an acre. While hundred-acre farms in Lake and Santa Barbara counties struggle to meet investor expectations in a depressed wholesale market, owner-operated farms locally are keeping their heads down, keeping costs low, and settling in for the long haul.
At the same time, small farmers continue to be challenged by a sclerotic policy and regulatory framework established by Proposition 64 that both denies cannabis farmers the normal protections available to other forms of agriculture, and establishes legal structures that make it more difficult for small farmers to compete with large-scale competition.
The artificial barriers facing cannabis farmers often defy logic. For example, for years cannabis farmers have been calling on the state to allow them the ability to “fallow” – that is, to reduce or pause their cultivation on a year-to-year basis – without requiring the payment of thousands of dollars in annual fees for unused cultivated area. Fortunately, this past year, Senator McGuire introduced SB 833, legislation to enable cultivators to fallow, and Governor Newsom signed the bill into law in October. SB 833 is a win for a sensible regulatory framework, but the years of advocacy required to secure its passage exemplifies how even commonsense reforms to California regulations can feel like uphill battles.
Next year’s legislative session holds promise for more fundamental reforms. AB 1111, legislation introduced by Assemblymember Pellerin from the Santa Cruz area, would provide cannabis farmers under an acre with the ability to sell their own products directly to consumers at state-sanctioned cannabis events. The bill passed through the California Assembly by a 74-1 vote last year, and currently sits in Senate Appropriations Committee where it’s primed for further progress in 2024. Similarly, last year Congressman Jared Huffman introduced the Small and Homestead Independent Producer (SHIP) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would guarantee small cannabis producers the right to ship cannabis directly to consumers across state lines once cannabis is federally legalized.
With so much in motion at the state and federal level, it’s ironic that the single greatest threat to craft Humboldt cannabis comes from here at home: the deceptively-titled “Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative,” or Measure A. Written behind doors closed by a San Francisco law firm which previously worked with prohibitionist groups in Sonoma and Calaveras counties, Measure A would target all cannabis farmers in the county with new and unworkable restrictions, including bewildering provisions that would prohibit small farmers from adding new structures like drying sheds, water storage, or solar arrays on farm.
With a large and growing coalition of environmental, public safety, and local government opposition to Measure A, the measure’s prospects look increasingly dim. As with SB 833 and AB 1111, however, the message remains the same: if small cannabis farmers are going to be successful, we need access to the same tools as any other small farmer. And when that message is heard by policymakers, we can settle the question: craft cannabis will win.
Ross Gordon is Policy Director at Humboldt County Growers Alliance, the trade association representing cannabis operators in Humboldt, as well as the Policy Chair for the statewide advocacy and research organization Origins Council. He can be reached at ross@hcga.co
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