#Ask4Humboldt–HCGA to Launch a Localized Collective Marketing Strategy
Press release from the Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA):
Humboldt County, California. The Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA) announces a campaign –#Ask4Humboldt– to collectively market Humboldt’s branded cannabis and innovative product lines within the local region.
Ask for Humboldt is a consumer education campaign designed to bring immediate attention to the benefits of supporting Humboldt’s cannabis industry from economic, environmental, and health standpoints through a series of event exhibitions and partnerships between participating local retailers and producers. The campaign’s first phase will run from Memorial Day to harvest season.
The campaign aims to bolster legal pot sales, support the local economy, and take advantage of summertime events and increased tourism. By focusing on events, social media, and partnerships, the campaign will lay the groundwork to educate potential local consumers about Humboldt cannabis products and put faces to the local industry.
Ask For Humboldt will host an informational booth at the Mateel Summer Arts and Music Festival on June 18 and 19th. The booth will display a broad diversity of Humboldt’s cannabis brands to show the breadth of product lines, innovation, and craftsmanship our community creates for all to see.
Campaign exhibitions are also scheduled for Humboldt Made’s Eureka’s Friday Night Markets during July, August, and September, with cannabis operators from throughout Humboldt County taking the stage to share their knowledge and experience with interested attendees.
The Ask For Humboldt campaign will support the development of farmer-direct events such as the recently held Westside Live Market. Additional events may include press tours and budtender education days. Finally, to support Humboldt’s wholesale producers, HCGA will continue to build partnerships with urban manufacturers and retailers, including equity operators, to increase direct sourcing from Humboldt to the Bay Area, Southern California, and elsewhere.
In tandem with the Ask For Humboldt campaign launch, on May 13, HCGA’s five Board of Directors approved the establishment of an elected Humboldt County Cannabis Marketing Committee to guide collective marketing efforts for Humboldt cannabis in the future.
Research on successful place-based craft producing regions such as Napa, Bordeaux, Colombia, and Kona, shows that the cornerstone of long-term successful collective marketing strategies centers on democratic control by the industry itself. Therefore, HCGA’s Marketing Committee will comprise six elected cultivators, two elected manufacturers, two elected distributors, and two elected retailers. All operators elected to the marketing committee must be locally-owned businesses. The Committee’s role is to help establish strategic plans, prioritize financial resources, approve contracts, and make decisions based on what is best for the industry moving forward into 2023 and beyond.
The Humboldt County Growers Alliance is the trade association representing Humboldt County’s cannabis industry. Founded in 2017, for the industry, by the industry, HCGA has demonstrated its commitment to a transparent, democratic process, financial accountability, professionalism, and efficacy. Best known for its robust Government Affairs Program, HCGA is building upon its existing Public Relations and Market Development Program to implement the Ask For Humboldt campaign. HCGA is governed by Chairperson Kaylie Saxon of Forbidden Fruit Farms, Stacia Eliason of Bear Humboldt, David Dickinson of Woody Ridge Farm, Dylan Mattole of Mattole Valley Sungrown, and Lucas Sanders of Terp Mansion.
For more information, check out: https://hcga.co/
collectivemarketing/ to review the Marketing Committee Documents and nomination form. Website: Ask4Humboldt.com
Instagram: @ask4humboldt
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The only sensible strategy is to GROW LESS CANNABIS, but no one in Humboldt is famous for being sensible.
For the legal market, it is non sensible if there are no restrictions elsewhere in the state. Only the DCC could impose such a thing, but since there isn’t a license cap I doubt there is a mechanism to do so. If only Humboldt (or the triangle) grew less then everyone else would supply the market and the farms in Humboldt would be done.
Only a liberal would think that artificially reducing the supply of something to drive up the price and hurt consumers is a good idea ( in the middle of a national supply shortage) while simutaneously believing increasing the supply of money, for the government to hand out, is a good idea (in the middle of devastating inflation).
You are right about one thing: “no one in Humboldt is famous for being sensible.”
Why did trump give out billions in subsidies then? Right before the election?
Crickets
Yeah, it sucks that politicians give away our money to buy votes.
Lets give politicians as little power and $ as possible.
No, it’s grow more GOOD cannabis. You can sell out fast if you grow good stuff! We need to keep the quality up and let Humboldt shine for what it’s know for.
Let me get this straight….
Soooo…..
This is about… “Group-Think”…???…,,,
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐
“Brainstorming” on ways to sell…
“Humboldt Weed”…
to… (wait for it)……
Humboldt…???…
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Exactly which department came up with this hair-brained idea?
Let me guess…
Quality Control?
I can hear them now, after a lengthy RHBB sponsored “sherbet frosting” bud sesh…
(Chong font)
(Twhooot… , … Ahhhh…) 💨
” I. Fingnured. it. Ount. Mannnn…. ”
(Twhoooot… , … Ahhhhh…) 💨
“Since…”
“Here in Humboldt, we can’t sell our weed…
(Twhooot… , … Ahhhhh…) 💨
“So…”
(Etc.)💨… ,… (Etc.)💨
“We can sell it all, just here in Humboldt…”
(What could go wrong?) (Hunger strikes???)
“Since we are the white market folks…
“We can definitely bank on the local black market folks, that we broke, and put out of business, to wholeheartedly and adequately support us, for the foreseeable future…”
“And we can also market our weed to other struggling local white market producers…”
“That way we won’t have to do any work anymore, we can just focus on slinging our weed to each other…”
“We just need to get organized, mannnn…”
“Hey! Who’s got my lighter?”
“Oh, here it is, in my hand…”
“I nominate myself”…
“Any seconds?…”
Jeez, Just think how hard it is to sell popcorn 🍿 from a truck in Humboldt.
Oh well, all that smoke should make for a lot of hungry people looking for munchies, but no popcorn allowed! 😒
🍿 🍿 🍿
❤😂😂😂😂😘
The legal farms didn’t break the black market folks. The change in regulations and over supply from other areas did. Nice scapegoat though.
We were at the very first cannabis legalization meeting in the Planning Department. We were told it we were going to be given around 2 acres, and a permit was going to cost around $2000: bait and Switched. So many people were taken for a ride and lost their land over this. Families starved, and people lost their lives. We were told that everyone would be able to participate. No, we did not try and break the black market. We thought we all would be in this succeeding together. Now I would say I don’t ever get permitted. It’s a scam.
We saw the same bait and switch in trinity. Still are actually when it comes to CEQA processing. The truth I’ve learned is that you should never trust anyone, not a planner, supervisor, your attorney, not your business partner, etc to tell you what is actually going to happen. Some people lie, some are naively misleading, but in the end if they won’t be affected like you then they have far less to loose.
The permitting system has many flaws and it was a crazy process to like getting an aircraft carrier to make a u-turn. Ultimately I think many legacy farmers’ biggest problem was myopic thinking and believing in dreams over macroeconomics. Best luck out there.
Haha good stuff right there
Yes. I will have 2 grams of legacy boof please.
“I will gladly pay you Tuesday, for 2 grams of legacy boof, today.”
Try the catfish.
I’m actually a bit confused here — how much weed is consumed within Humboldt that isn’t Humboldt weed? Is it really a significant portion of the Humboldt market?
If you have to market the product to the home region you might have to look deeper for the reasons other than ‘marketing’.
JB
It sounds like they are using these in person events this summer as a bit of a trial run on their outreach efforts efforts maybe hoping to connect with some tourists.
But you know Humboldt people, they don’t want to leave the bubble
Many of the local dispensaries have mostly products from out of the area with just a small selection of local products. I would always trip up the budtenders asking for outdoor and local products with citrus terpenes. They had very little to offer, sadly.
Now I mostly home grow.
The HCGA is a membership organization where farmers and distributors etc are duped into paying fees of $500-$5000 annually to gain access to meaningless crap.300 members. Do the math. It’s a “trade association” that sells it’s members hype and hope, fees that serve to line the pockets of the board and staff! Follow the $. They want those memberships. They aren’t there to benefit anyone, but themselves. This is a press release to fish out more member dollars, nothing more.
Yup. Always follow the money.
It’s a voluntary trade association. There’s no coercion involved. Whether membership is a good business decision or not is a question for any individual farm, but the organization itself exists to do what the members think is best for their business. If the members don’t feel like they are getting their money’s worth they stop paying.
Duped is not the same as coerced.
You’re wrong. The money I spend for membership is hands down the best money I spend on my farm annually. Weekly meeting have the most up to date info on regulations, grants, industry info, and planning for a future we want to create. HCGA is pushing so hard to help develop regulations made by farmers, not by some chumps at desks in Sacramento.
You should join up for a month and find out what it’s about before you spout out a bunch of crap you know nothing about.
Spoken like a true member/ board representative. With an annual operating budget pushing what, north of 200k? It’s a cool little elite club thingy, that by design benefits the top of the pyramid.
There’s nothing elite about it. It’s a trade organization. They literally exist for every business sector and are constituted to advocate for policy that benefits their members. It, by design, benefits it’s members. If businesses don’t feel they are getting benefit from membership they stop paying for it.
200k? I wish. We are a small farm without our own brand. Most distributors don’t give a fuck about small farms. They say they do, but their actions don’t show it. I hear shit like, “Yeah, we love to support small legacy farmers! We will buy all of your trim!” Me, “Great, I have 125pounds from this season.” Them, “Oh, we can only take 1000 pounds or more. Can you put yours with one of your neighbors or something?” What small farm produces 1000+ or even 500+ pound of trim in a year? You have to be the squeaky wheel to get your pounds sold. If you don’t keep on them, 4 months go by and they give it back to you all beat up and oxidized thus even harder to sell. Everybody wants a piece of the farmers hard work. The county, the state, the engineers, the permit consultants, trimmers, water board, attorneys, archaeologists, CPAs, grow supply stores, distributors, ect, ect…. And after all that if you only grew 200 pounds and sell it for $500 a pound, it doesn’t get you even close to having 200k for operating expenses. So just because I still have a license, doesn’t mean I’m rolling in cash by any means. More like barley hanging on.
The 200k income I spoke of is that of the HCGA.
We all know that the majority of the smalls farms are on the struggle bus. Maybe if you got in early with bear extracts and know wtf you’re doing and can wait a year for the $ from fresh frozen you are doing ok. Everyone else is as you described. Bleeding red. And some of that lost $ is lining the pockets of the HCGA top end staff and board! Maybe try to get a side gig as HCGA staff , lolz.
Typical dope “farmer.” Not caring about other businesses bottom line needs. It’s always about yourself isn’t it.
Typical drug dealer not believing employees or service providers should be compensated for their work.
Work should be compensated.
Exclusive Fluff like what the HCGA sells is an entirely different thing.
Folks must have short memories. Remember the massive cut 85% cut to Measure S? –That was HCGA working to keep farmers from going into debt with the county to pay the cultivation tax. Or working in coalition with five other legacy producing regions with Origins Council to eliminate the state cultivation tax. Advocacy is not free and takes a lot of time, energy, and resources to create an organized movement that can actually make a difference.
So … they’re doing what Humboldt Made does but without any of the infrastructure and probably without any dedicated staff for it?
//(HCGA) announces a campaign –#Ask4Humboldt– to collectively market Humboldt’s branded cannabis and innovative product lines within the local region.//
40 million in the state and ya wanna concentrate on the 125,000 locally who get most of their weed for free.
That’s what I’m talking about…
Focusing on the 125,000, that don’t have an income anymore is a bad plan.
Banking on tourists, isn’t either.
Are they trying to ensure failure to the local legal competition?
Instead of “divide and conquer”, it’s “unite and conquer”.
The rest of the distros in the State, want nothing to do with Humboldt Weed.
They got their own Homies…
Distros in Humboldt, for Humboldt connected weed seems stupid to me… No money, and lots of people that have their own weed. Weed unconnected to Humboldt, in Humboldt County distros, makes even less sense…
It’s going to be the same mentality elsewhere, except it makes more sense for a rich County, to distro its own weed, at the same price point.
It’s a loyalty thing…
So, why would they distro Humboldt Weed?
Why would anyone come to Humboldt to shop for it? Wholesale or retail? To buy gas not grass?
So they can low-ball the Humboldt farms and truck it?
Nope.
The growers alliance will set a fixed price agreement, and the masterminds will undercut it out the back door…
Power and control…
Those membo fees will definitely add up…
Chaching!, chaching!
Yeah at least Humboldt Made takes Humboldt products down to LA and other regional trade shows that aren’t local
Their plan is to beta-test the campaign locally before taking it outside of Humboldt for 2023, hence the development of the elected marketing committee that works with the industry to develop a strategic plan and prioritizes resources.
Do you actually follow HCGA on Instagram or anything? You would have a better idea of what they do, and where they go.
To be honest, I’ve been working with some younger people who aren’t from the area recently and it’s kind of shocking to me how out of touch with local cannabis culture they are. All indoor smokers.
I think there is some serious work to be done locally to ensure that the culture around top quality sun grown cannabis is passed on to the younger generations of residents here.
There is no educating Budweiser drinking, McDonalds eating, Walmart shoppers.
The thousands of small breweries that make wildly more flavorful beer than those companies and didnt exist 2 decades ago would beg to differ
Ok.. now look here, you should be nothing less than honored that I took the time to respond, and that you can now say you have had the distinct pleasure of engaging in correspondence with me.
Your example is a logical fallacy.
Look it up, and try again as you may.
Using an exception to invalidate the norm only solidifies the point.. that is as define by traditional academic standards. Ie.. your example further confirmed my point.
Thank you for teaching them.
It’s an uphill battle, appearance in a social media photo is an astonishingly important factor for many people when evaluating cannabis these days
“I ONly SmOke EXOtiC RappER wEeD”
That is a depressingly common attitude among the younger people I’ve met.
One guy I work with even told me that some of his buyers look at his inventory list, then look up the stains on their phones an be decide what they want based on whatever they are checking on there.
True connoisseurs
Yeah.. didn’t expect you would catch a logical fallacy disguised as a well thought through response with substance. Your long winded basic bro responses and rebuttals are becoming tiresome. You talk a lot, and I mean a lot, but you really don’t have much too say.
Yeah…Name a city right here for all to see. I will show you what say I have. Go on Mr Big Stuff name any city in the USA you think you own…..I dare ya!!
I suspect they are just doing a local trial run and firming up the base. If you don’t have a strong local presence then it makes it harder to project that image outward.
Did you see the prices at the event they just held or the one in whitethorn. They are conforming to the pricing that is being dictated by grow bros backed by corporates in SLO and DHS. They are not paying any attention to the customer.
It’s was an empty house of cards brother that a queen of ours saw with her own eyes. She thought it fitting to decorate it with a chair. So they be comfortable as it all collapses around them. Our beloved deserve better and we will ensure they are not forgotten. Blessings!
No I didn’t see that. Bummer to hear but I’m not surprised I guess. I’ve never been impressed with HCGA. Why didn’t they try to over turn the crazy sq ft tax until it was too late? And then they only got a temporary reprieve.
Trinity’s trade group, TCAA, hasn’t been productive either. Moments of success but mostly abject failures. Haters are winning in trinity. If you do get a permit in south county make sure it’s zoned ag of some sort and no neighbors within 350 ft for certain.
Thanks for the zoning info and TCAA knowledge should be interesting, lol. We are legal at a site in Humboldt and are independent of all current legal weed associations but we have strong support because of my history from the Traditional side. They definately showed their love (Trinity) most recently. It’s good to be home (Trinity)!!!
What was the pricing?
Had a great conversation a while back with the french woman that works at HCGA about appellation as they have in France’s wine regions. The idea is very interesting in principle, but is it really feasible to turn it into a marketing tool…?
The appellation program will only be successful if the participants can produce truly quality products.
Since appellations will be producer created, there will likely be a range of quality with some applying to any outdoor from a particular region and others specifying particular cultural practices, cultivars, and quality metrics in the finished product. There will be a temptation to make loose appellations but I personally expect that the only ones that will be able to develop any market cache will be those that are the most strict.
You’re absolutely right, and I think the idea is for us to produce flower that is worthy of being recognized and protected. I just hope that the appellation process calls for growers to prove their worth in order to have product under an appellation. Otherwise it’s all smoky BS…
My understanding is that all appellations will be farmer created. Essentially, a group of farmers will apply for a particular appellation and if they meet the state criteria it will be granted. Once granted it will be up to the group that owns the appellationto determine its specific laws.
It sounds like it’s designed to encompass geographic areas much smaller than county size and the minimum standards include being grown outdoor, without light assistance ordeprivation, and in a native soil.
Individual appellations can choose to require further specific cultivation/processing requirements and limit the appellation to specific cultivars/seed stock. I look forward to seeing what emerald triangle regions form meaningful appellations that come to represent true triangle quality flower