Poor business decisions

EDITOR: I served on Sonoma County’s cannabis advisory group in 2017-18 as a neighborhood “rep” and had a lot of interaction with industry reps. Having read about mega operations near Palm Springs and large operations in Monterey County, I asked how local growers could compete when production costs here would be so much higher. The answer was, they couldn’t.

They would have to depend on “branding” — relying on the name of Sonoma County and using appellation designations. This was the only way to sell at a premium price and make a profit. This meant growing outdoors with roots in the ground, not growing in tubs of potting soil as most do here.

Fast forward to today. Growers in the Emerald Triangle are still trying to unload 2020’s crop, the price for “generic” cannabis is cratering, and local growers are pleading for reduced taxes and other support from the government.

The problem stems from poor business decisions made by local operators when future trends could be clearly seen. They don’t need a moratorium on taxes for this failure.

BRANTLY RICHARDSON

Santa Rosa