Direct-to-consumer sales bill for California craft farmers awaiting governor’s signature

Several cannabis activist organizations held an online webinar Tuesday in the hopes of ramping up a pressure campaign on Gov. Gavin Newsom, to convince him to sign a bill just approved by the legislature in late August that would grant a new path to market for small marijuana farmers.

Origins Council, Supernova Women, Equity Trade Network and California NORML all took part in the online meeting, in which they all asked participants to sign onto a letter which requests Newsom sign into law Assembly Bill 1111, which was approved by lawmakers on Aug. 28.

The groups all agreed that it would be a new lifeline for small farmers and social equity companies, both entrepreneurial demographics having a tough go in the competitive California cannabis landscape.

“It’s a bill that allows small cultivators to sell their own cannabis products at cannabis events,” explained Ross Gordon, policy chair of Origins Council, which represents small cannabis farmers across California. “It’s an opportunity for small farmers to sell directly to consumers.”

Gordon noted that although there are already licensed marijuana events overseen by the same regulatory agency – the Department of Cannabis Control – those only allow sales to be conducted by licensed retailers, which farmers are not, and most have no desire to jump through the necessary hoops to become a licensed retailer.

The recent California State Fair – at which both marijuana sales and consumption were allowed for the first time – set a “precedent” for such events, and has opened the floodgates of demand from other similar events, said Ramon Garcia, co-founder of the Equity Trade Network.

“It set precedent for every fairground to be able to do it. By day three, you had San Diego, L.A., Orange County fairgrounds calling, saying, ‘We want to do this,’” Garcia said.

Genine Coleman, the executive director of Origins Council, also called the bill an “opportunity to partner with brands” for small farms, to help deliver their businesses further. And she said it could prove a major economic boon both to the farms and the rural regions in which they grow.

“Part of what we need right now is anything to drive the economy,” Coleman said.

The bill would still have several guardrails in it for farmers to comply with, Gordon noted:

• Farmers would only be allowed to sell at licensed cannabis events, such as the Emerald Cup.
• Farmers would only be allowed to sell cannabis products they’ve made or grown themselves with their own marijuana.
• Event sales would be capped at $175,000 annually, not including taxes.
• A licensed distributor would still be required to transport goods to and from any sales event.
• The size of farms allowed to participate would change over time, beginning in 2026 with farms that have 10,000 square feet or less of outdoor canopy, or 5,000 square feet or less of mixed-light canopy, or 2,500 square feet or less of indoor canopy. Those sizes would more than double in 2027.

It’s not clear yet if Newsom will sign the bill; a spokesperson from the governor’s press office said the bill “will be evaluated on its merits,” and that the governor’s deadline to sign is Sept. 30.