Emerald Family Farms
Emerald Family Farms is farmer cooperation. Hundreds of the Emerald Triangle’s finest farmers under one banner, navigating the ever changing cannabis industry.
The founders of Emerald Family Farms saw that the future for cannabis farmers was even more complex and competitive than the past. With the legalization of cannabis and an increased interest from corporate professionals, they knew that if the farmers of the region didn’t stand together, they would be marginalized. Farmers and Activists themselves, they created Emerald Family Farms to work in cooperation within the cannabis industry.
Founded in 2015, Emerald Family Farms has been focused on cultivating award-winning cannabis and concentrate products, while working with smaller farmers to help them cross the hurdles of state compliance.
Incorporating the connoisseur cannabis of member farms from Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity Counties into our supply chain helps us offer a wider strain variety to our customers and offers a life-line to the region’s farmers and our local communities.
In Humboldt County, we have a code of conduct: Respect the land, respect the people, respect the plant. Emerald Family Farms was created in an effort to protect these core values of the cannabis movement, and to ensure that these values are the guiding principles of the new legal cannabis industry. At Emerald Family Farms we are excited by the scale of opportunities the California regulatory market brings and at the same time we still believe in paying tribute to the immense sacrifices of the many cannabis activists whose actions have given us all the ability to participate in a statewide cannabis economy.
Our goal at Emerald Family Farms is to provide high quality, clean, and affordable cannabis products that have been created without sacrificing either our commitment to strong environmental standards or our passion for social justice. Our ownership team, an evenly balanced group of men and women, has decided to proceed forward in an effort of conscientious capitalism, a way of doing business that acknowledges the necessity of profit, but does not prioritize profit over underlying values. We believe that our company is an instrument to affect positive social change through business practices that are infused with our values. We intend to do well, by doing good. We strive to balance economic and environmental sustainability. We envision ownership of the cannabis community to be inclusive of all genders, ethnicities, and the LGBT community.
The original Emerald Family Farm was the first farm in Humboldt County to attempt being fully permitted from a land use perspective. Though we had no qualms about the nature of our product (we take great pride in the cultivation of cannabis), we did have concerns about how cannabis farming might impact the environment of our neighbors, neighbor-woods, and our watershed. Our farm was the very first farm statewide to enroll in the regional water board program, acquire the correct Department of Fish and Wildlife permits, and also get the relevant Cal Fire permits, all of which guide our effort to produce what we call Salmon Safe Cannabis. Through the complex and often difficult process to become fully permitted, our owners became involved with and served as policy co-chairs for California Cannabis Voice-Humboldt. CCV-H wrote the first draft of the Humboldt County Cannabis ordinance. After a lengthy public process this ordinance received unanimous approval by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and became the first of its kind, a comprehensive cannabis ordinance in California.
When the ordinance was passed, the owners shifted their focus to the development of Emerald Family Farms as a competent, value-driven, farmer owned business. Emerald Family Farms developed and presented Financial Boot-camps to assist local farmers in becoming tax liable corporate structures that could function well in the legal market. Emerald Family Farms then hosted Environmental Boot-camps to assist farmers in navigating the complex permitting process that leads to environmental stewardship. We want every cannabis farmer that shares our goals of capitalism with a conscience, environmental stewardship, commitment to community, and inclusive social justice, to succeed. It’s that simple.
Accomplishments…we’ve had more than a few. Emerald Family Farms has done purchase orders with over 250 farms. We have won top awards twice during the last four years at the Golden Tarps Contest (Humboldt County’s light-dep competition). We have won awards at the Emerald Cup, the Humboldt Cup, High Times, Hempcon, and in many other competitions across the state. Emerald Family Farms is most proud of its accomplishment in lowering the barriers of entry into the legal cannabis market for farmers. EFF has lobbied for the lowest tax rate on product in the state, and provided cannabis farmers with a legal route of sales.
Why tell our story? Though the cannabis customer’s first concern is the quality of the product they are purchasing, we believe that customers also care about the values that drive their decisions. We are a company whose roots are deep in the soil of Humboldt County, whose growth is dependent on farmers with years of commitment to skilled cannabis cultivation. We believe that our origins can provide a product that will never be matched by competitors whose roots exist solely in the barren soil of profit seeking and venture capitalism.
Our future is To Be Determined, by you, our business partners. Our future depends on how well we listen to you on topics such as price point, quality, cannabis farming advocacy. We have created an online platform to better communicate with our customer base and retail partners. We will be on the road trying to get the perspective of our retail partners firsthand. We will be developing online and in person workshops geared to helping cannabis farmers succeed in cultivation, marketing, and regulatory compliance. On our end, we are implementing the highest standards in the industry to bring the end product to market.
The best chocolate is not produced in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The best wine does not come from Gallo Farms. The best cannabis doesn’t come from sloppy production south of the border. The Emerald Triangle, our own home, produces cannabis whose quality is arguably unequaled, and small farmers are the creators of that reputation. Emerald Family Farms knows that its best chance to thrive, rather than simply survive, rests in the hands of its business partners. We hope to make our actions reflect our debt of gratitude to our customers, our small farmer origins and our business partners. We hope to step into a successful future, side by side, with you.