Would you pay more?
It wasn’t that long ago that sustainability in the cannabis sector simply meant not getting busted.
But legalization has shown that for more and more people, sustainability is the product.
Sustainabilty goes hand in hand with the craft cannabis sector, if Bonno has anything to say about it—and part of that might mean paying a bit more for the quality and associated costs.
“If it’s a premier product, consumers will pay more for the heart and passion put into a product,” he says. “If you put two products in front of someone and told them the one on the left is grown by a farmer from down the road who’s raising a family and the one on the other side, well, that’s corporate, which one are you going to pick?”
Bonno is the volunteer secretary of the BC Craft Farmers Co-op, a group he says numbers a couple of hundred licensed medical and micro-growers and those in the process of applying.
“Sustainability is two things. There is financial sustainability as well as the basic sustainability of this planet,” Hurford says. “If it’s financial, are you able to open your doors, pay your workers, feed your family?”
What’s missing is government support for the nascent cannabis industry, he says.
“The government has poured over $100 million into those big cannabis corporations but we’re seeing them closing still,” he adds.
He says the small-batch cannabis production most of the group’s members engage in, plus the surging costs of production, means at least some aspects of sustainability are borne of need.
But it’s time those costs and others should be considered an investment in the cannabis industry and given government support, Bonno argues.
“How about a sustainability grant to green your operation? How about an increase in canopy area for the micros so they can be competitive?” he asks.
With proper support, Bonno says micro-processing operations could help sustain rural communities facing reductions in forestry and mining employment.
“We grow some of the best product in the world here in BC,” he says. “Craft growers from all over the country acknowledge BC has something special. When they talk about cannabis in the world, we already have the BC bud brand. People already think about BC when they think about cannabis in Canada.”
