The plan to save California's legendary weed from 'Big Cannabis'

Small operators have to cope with a sprawling new bureaucracy governing the cultivation and distribution of marijuana
Wired (US)
Tuesday, April 17, 2018

The cannabis industry in California historically has been anything but centralized. That has made the cannabis in the Emerald Triangle legendary. Thousands of small farms have developed strains unique to their microclimates: A prized varietal needs specific conditions to thrive. But these farmers are in danger of losing their livelihood to consolidation. "As the cannabis industry is just coming out of prohibition and companies are beginning to get licensed, there are a lot of investment dollars going towards large indoor and greenhouse grow operations in the Central Valley of California," says Michael Steinmetz, founder and CEO of Flow Kana which quest is to save this cannabis culture to compete with the supply chains of Big Cannabis.