Humboldt Archives - Green Market Report

StaffMay 6, 2021

While millions of Americans are getting ready to enjoy the summer for the first time in over a year, the cannabis industry is already gearing up for the upcoming fall harvest. Taking place between October and early November, the period is called Croptober, and it is a time when roughly 80%-85% of the cannabis industry’s outdoor cannabis is harvested.

The reason why the industry harvests the majority of outdoor cannabis during this specific period has to do with the plant itself. Cannabis is an annual plant, which means it lives out its entire life cycle in a single growing season.

Planted in the early Spring, the cannabis plant starts to produce buds in Fall as the days start to shorten, typically becoming ready for harvest around mid-October. For outdoor cultivators, this is the only time of the year they will harvest their crop, so it is both a time of celebration and great stress.

In many of the parts of the country where cannabis cultivation is big business, like the fabled Emerald Triangle in Northern California, Croptober has taken on an air akin to many of the harvest festivals celebrated throughout the world.

Cannabis farms often give tours, parties are thrown, and while consumers can’t pick buds off the plant like apples, there is an influx of cheap high-quality cannabis. It is this celebratory atmosphere that first attracted Case Mandel, the Co-Founder of Cannadips, to set up shop in Humboldt County.

“I first visited Humboldt County in 2003 when I right out of High School,” Mandel recalls. “There were so many beautiful farms and incredible cultivators. I was completely astounded.”

Cannadips CBD manufacturers a smokeless CBD pouch that works as a dipping alternative. With a retail footprint of 6,000 stores, Cannadips CBD is one of the area’s largest hemp manufacturers. Cannadips also manufactures a cannabis pouch in Humboldt County as well.

Looking to draw more attention to the season, Cannadips recently announced its first annual Croptober Getaway Sweepstakes where five winners are given an all-expenses-paid trip to Humboldt County to experience some of California’s most prominent cannabis farms and experience Croptober first-hand. The winners will also be treated to a party at the historic Arcata Theater Lounge, as well as a relaxing tour of Humboldt Count’s redwood forests and beaches.

“Humboldt is not what they see on Netflix’s Murder Mountain or Dateline NBC, it’s the Emerald Triangle, we are excited to share its shine.”

The contest runs from May 1 to June 30, and those interested in signing up can register on the Cannadips website. Four of the winners will be chosen through a random drawing, with one winner to be announced every two weeks. The fifth winner will be the person with the best Instagram post with the #Croptober2021 hashtag.

“This type of access would never have been possible in the last twenty years,” says Mandel. “These Croptober winners won’t be touring corporate cannabis monocrops, they’ll be exploring the best outdoor sun-grown cannabis from some of Humboldt’s best cultivators. It is refreshing we can share the amazing innovation and craft legally that has made our region famous.”

Video StaffOctober 8, 2018

Eureka, California got its start in the gold rush and now the community is looking at the Green Rush for its latest return to prosperity. The little town in northern California got its start when gold mining was in its heyday and the protection of Humboldt Bay allowed for a safe place for boats to dock. After the gold rush died down, timber became the next path to riches. But then timber demand began to fall as well.

The remote mountains of Humboldt County proved to be a great place to grow cannabis and many residents found this to be a great way to earn a living. In the process, the country has earned a reputation for growing premium cannabis.

With legalization, the former black market cannabis farms that are tucked in the hills of Humboldt County near Eureka are coming out into the open and bringing new money and manufacturing to the area. It is estimated that there are 6,000 to 10,000 farms spread throughout the county. Some have been growing cannabis for decades and are trying to make the transition to legal status.

Papa & Barkley is one company that has brought jobs to the sleepy town. It is a company known for its healing balms and patches, which were originated by founder Adam Grossman. Grossman developed the first balm to help his father’s tremendous back pain and continued to give samples to friends. Then it became a passion project.

It has quickly grown from a handful of employees to over 100 jobs. The company keeps expanding its footprint in downtown Eureka to the delight of a youthful city council.

Due to Papa & Barkley’s commitment to a “clean” formula, the company was already stringently testing its products. This meant that it was able to meet the new stricter cannabis guidelines that went into effect in California on July 1. The California dispensaries have fewer products on the shelves than before July 1 because many companies’ weren’t able to pass the tests.

Papa & Barkley didn’t have that issue and is now enjoying a lack of competition as the company educates the consumers about its products. It doesn’t use solvents or add distillates. It doesn’t re-add terpenes and uses a whole plant infusion process. The company only buys its cannabis from the sun-grown farms in the Humboldt County region.

It even specifically sources its beeswax from beekeepers who don’t use pesticides that could keep the product from passing its tests. Chief Products Officer Guy Rocourt said that procuring clean beeswax has been one of the hardest parts to the production process.

While the company specializes in medical cannabis that comes in patches, balms, tinctures, and capsules, it is planning on expanding into other states with a hemp product called Essentials. These CBD products will be derived from hemp and will be available for sale in states without legalization.

Debra BorchardtOctober 4, 2017

As the concentrate market grows among cannabis consumers, brands are finding that the customers are demanding a better product. Typically, extraction products or cannabis oils in vape pens use the trim, which is basically the marijuana trash. It’s the leaves that end up on the floor of the grow facilities after the trimmers take the good stuff for flower sales.

Joey Shepp, Chief Executive Officer of Humboldt’s Finest said, “Trim used to be thrown away. It was practically free.” Since many producers believed all cannabis oil is basically the same, trim was a profitable choice for a base vape product, while the nice flower was sold separately. However, the popularity of vaporizers because of their cleanliness and convenience is causing a decline in flower sales and an increase in concentrate sales.

Now, customers are pushing back and demanding a better vape experience and that means they want better product going into the oil. Brendan Baker, Founder & CEO of Sunfed Inc., which produces Bumblebee Vape said that with whole plant extraction, consumers are getting a cleaner, truer representation of what the flower is like. “It has a higher cannabinoid content and a higher terpene profile,” he said. “Whole plant extraction, when done properly, gives consumers a better product and better consistency.”

While there is definitely a trend of buyers equating price with cannabinoid content, i.e. “I want the most THC for the least amount of cost,” Baker said the market is shifting. “Sure you can buy 150 proof alcohol, but how does it taste? What’s starting to happen is that people are reintroducing terpenes back into the oil.” Some will argue, that at the end of the distillation process, it’s all the same and when compared to the alcohol market, the same can be said. Yet, there are numerous variations in the spirits market that capitalize on taste and alcohol content.

Another dynamic that is pushing the increased amount of whole plant extraction is scale. “As farmers are scaling up and the amount of pounds they are producing is rising, it’s just more efficient to do whole plant extraction.” He noted that trimming is a labor intensive job, that works on a small scale, but won’t work as California ramps up. “It’s being pushed from craft to a more industrial sized scale,” he said. “They are actually running out of waste product to trim.”

With sun grown farmers seeing margins getting lower anything they can do to cut costs is welcome, including selling the whole plant to processors. However, it does take a certain amount of retooling at the farm to deliver the whole plant and so the farms that are early adopters and first to market will benefit from the switchover. Even on the processor side, Shepp said it takes a higher skill set to do whole plant extractions versus labs that are just distilling trim. “You could do that in a garage,” he added. The change also brings a new dynamic as to pricing the whole plant when before prices were based on flower vs. trim.

The farmers seem to be pleased with the change. While prices could be lower, the costs are lower as well. Like any farmer, they are generally happier to lock in fewer customers and less processing in order to focus on farming.

“It’s a win-win. A win for the farmer, a win for manufacturing and a win for consumers who get a better product,” said Baker. “It’s Whole Foods versus processed foods.” As the story continues to be about the clean and pure product, Humboldt’s Finest comes to mind. Consumers want to know the farm now and whether it’s sustainable and clean. Baker mentioned they may do bulk oil from Humboldt’s Finest that could be used in other products. Saying it’s quality in and quality out.