Industry

Cannabis harvest 2021 in US farmers’ own words

Published on November 4, 2021 · Last updated November 11, 2021
Vox-potpuli: Farmers detailed the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2021. Above, Moon Made Farms boss grower Tina Gordon.
Vox-potpuli: Farmers detailed the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2021. Above, Moon Made Farms boss grower Tina Gordon.

The nation’s first, definitive valuation of our legal crop—the Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2021—gets even more definitive with a series of colorful interviews and profiles of actual, living, breathing pot farmers. (They’re just like us!)

Below, Leafly polled cannabis farmers from across the US on how 2021 went. A lot of them crushed it. Read their answers.

How did this year’s growing go?

Bruce Marlow. (Courtesy Aeriz)

“We have had a great year. We are completing an expansion, plan on expanding again, and everyone here takes a lot of pride in the job we do.”

—Bryce Marlow, 32, Second shift manager, Ariez, Anna, IL
Alan Hackett. (Courtesy MD Farms)

“We’ve experienced good harvests and problematic ones this year, but overall the progression is there. We encountered changing weather, progressively worsening water, the aging of our staple strains and the transition into new ones.”

—Allen Hackett, 34, Founder, MD Farms, Salinas, CA
(Courtesy F5 Farms)
Evan Marder. (Courtesy Fleur)

“2021 has been our best year yet and we expect that to continue into 2022 and beyond.”

—Evan Marder, 51, Director of Cultivation, FLEUR, Las Vegas, NV
Related
New Leafly ‘Cannabis Harvest Report’ values crop 5th in the nation

Are you optimistic or pessimistic?

“We’re incredibly optimistic! We will be expanding our Ohio operation next year, our Michigan grow site is finally online, and we are adding processing in both Ohio and Michigan as well as retail in Michigan and possibly Ohio.”

—Geoff Korff, CEO, Galenas Akron, OH
(Courtesy F5 Farms)
Ben Caldwell. (Courtesy F5 Farms)

“I’m very optimistic for the future, we’re currently expanding into a new state of the art cultivation facility that’s double our current size.”

—Ben Caldwell, 26, Director of Cultivation for F5 Farms in Tulsa, OK
Jason Gellman, Ridgeline. (Courtesy Ridgeline Farms)
Jason Gellman. (Courtesy Ridgeline Farms)

“I truthfully have no idea what the future holds, I try to be as optimistic as possible, but it has been pretty hard watching the big farms take over and the legacy farms of The Emerald Triangle take a giant hit.”

Jason Gellman, Owner and Operator, Ridgeline Farms, Southern Humboldt, CA

Fave strain you want people to try?

Gordon. (Courtesy Moon Made Farms)
Tina Gordon. (Courtesy Moon Made Farms)

“C’mon! From our 2021 full season, check out Cherry Moon, Orange Valley Sun, Grapes + Cream, Team Cream, Caps Frozen Lemons, to name a few.”

—Tina Gorden, ‘old enough to smoke weed’, Owner and Founder, Moon Made Farms, Southern Humboldt County, CA
Wonderbrett growers Camerin Damwijk and Brett Feldman in the garden. (Courtesy Wonderbrett)
Wonderbrett growers Camerin Damwijk and Brett Feldman in the garden. (Courtesy Wonderbrett)

“I would say the Cherry Trop is one of the most beautiful strains I’ve ever had the pleasure of growing. This is a new strain and we just recently started selling it at our new Hollywood flagship.”

—Brett Feldman, 42, Cultivator and President at Wonderbrett, Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA
(Courtesy Sweet Dirt)
(Courtesy Sweet Dirt)

“For moderate users I recommend the Blue Borealis. The flavor is approachable and the buzz is reminiscent of a canoe ride down a slow-moving river.”

—Hughes Pope, 35, Founder, Sweet Dirt, Eliot, ME

How did your 2021 grow go? Sound off in the comments below, yo.

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Zack Ruskin
Zack Ruskin
Zack Ruskin is a freelance cannabis and culture reporter. His other bylines include the San Francisco Chronicle, The Nib, Vanity Fair, California Leaf Magazine and Variety. Follow him on Twitter: @zackruskin.
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