Can Coffee and Wine Marketing Practices Stop Rapid Deflation of Pot Price

[binaryfission]

Imagine cannabis in a market like the Dutch flower market. Imagine raw resin grown in India on a commodities market being hedged by organically grown Thai sticks or aged gardah from a sustainable farming community on the Af/Pak border.

Imagine walking into a coffee shop in California or Amsterdam and being able to buy the same Thai Sticks, grown by the same farmer. Sold just like coffee with his face on the bag.

Imagine our community establishing a standard like "Equitably Hand Trimmed." Meaning the trimmer was not using a machine and payed a fair wage that the community agreed upon. This seems especially pertinent to the California brethren worried of diminishing returns for their crops destroying the economy. This simple act of solidarity could keep prices high and keep the money in the hands of the people.

That is quote of mine to start this. I created this thread to spur conversation. so converse.

any thoughts or comments on this idea? I'ld love to hear from people doing big outdoor. Would you feel comfortable aligning your strains to the areas in which they are produced? Like they do with wine. You might have a million Pinot's divided by their geographic location. Can you guys sell the terroir?

this is very disjointed and i mean to use this thread and any input i receive as way to iron out my thoughts in an open-source manner.

Basically i think coffee and wine offer us two ways to market our products and keep our prices at an acceptable level so as not to be squeezed out by the big commercial grows.

Coffee has the fair trade model. Basically pay more for this lb of coffee because we can guarantee that it came from this farm and this farmer and he was equitably compensated. Profit sharing for farmers. Think brand imagery and maintenance from seed.

Wine has what i call the terroir model. Basically how do you sell the same handful of grapes packaged differently? You tell the people the soil makes the difference. California is at the same latitude as France. Cali, Oregon and plenty of other regions differentiate their bottles by the region. Sonoma Coast, Willamete Valley, Napa, Russian River Valley, Provence, Burgundy, et cetera et cetera.

PLUS, organic, vegan, hand trimmed, sustainably produced, non profit etc. all of these labels, if executed by the community first can keep our profitability up.

Agree or disagree? please comment, flame, rep, bitch, or whatever.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

I think regions with poorer soil and higher altitudes will emerge as the chronoisseur canna growing locations. For example, lush, woodsy Northern California isn't nearly as choice a region as scrub foothills and canyons in the south. Heh, that should start a flame war!

 

[ReelBusy1]

you can't stop deflation of a commodity that has been artificially supported when the supports asre removed.

In a True post Prop 19 world:
Low and mid grade prices would plunge
High grade/elite MJ will still cost more.

Think Wine:
some bottle cost $2-10 bucks
some cost hundreds.
what you make and how you make it and how well you grow it will set your sales price.
Not the fact that people have to pay it because its a black market item and they can set whatever price they want.

 

[Voodoo]

you can't stop deflation of a commodity that has been artificially supported when the supports asre removed.

In a True post Prop 19 world:
Low and mid grade prices would plunge
High grade/elite MJ will still cost more.

Think Wine:
some bottle cost $2-10 bucks
some cost hundreds.
what you make and how you make it and how well you grow it will set your sales price.
Not the fact that people have to pay it because its a black market item and they can set whatever price they want.

Exactly.

As I have said a million times;

What is the problem with the cannabis community being opened up to the evil capitalist market?

"Mom and Pop will go out of business" - you're right! sorta.

Those who have any kind of growing talent and a couple years experience just got jobs working as techs, grow managers, product reps, consultants, spokespersons, sales staff, etc, etc.

 

[OjoRojo420]

My advice:

Find a niche

High End Sativas are the ticket.

I wish to eventually specialize in just Kali Mist and Mango Haze.

Time to work harder and be professional in all aspects.

 

[binaryfission]

Your responses are all fantastic. I'm happy to see I'm not the only person that thinks things are going to be alright.

So to you see the sky staying at its current elevation, do you think these standards could be used to raise price even more?

Could these standards make us, dare I say it, more profitable per watt than we are now?

Personally i think they could, if, we adopt now before the Big Business interests can co-opt our ideas.

 

[jacotosh]

I think that is what can keep the NorCal scene going. They already have brand recognition going for them. Concentrate on a few strains that have been grown and bred in the region for years. Then organize and form a co-op to distribute what the local farmers have grown. It has to be from that region to be certified as Emerald Triangle, Humboldt, Mendo brand or whatever, similar to Blue Mountain Coffee in Jamaica.

 

[ReelBusy1]

I think that is what can keep the NorCal scene going. They already have brand recognition going for them. Concentrate on a few strains that have been grown and bred in the region for years. Then organize and form a co-op to distribute what the local farmers have grown. It has to be from that region to be certified as Emerald Triangle, Humboldt, Mendo brand or whatever, similar to Blue Mountain Coffee in Jamaica.

Well said.

Then FYI
Mother Chucker's Seeds are SOCAL certified.
Straight from the San FernAmsterdam Valley to you!