Kelowna to host cannabis summit, aims to boost micro-growers

• Seeking regulatory changes
• Costs currently too high for small legacy growers
• Independent retail and farmers can help boost jobs

With Canada moving into its fourth year of legal recreational use, it’s hoped a vibrant craft cannabis market can, in the future, be added to the Okanagan’s roster of economic drivers, alongside agriculture and tourism.

Two key players in the evolving sector will co-host a B.C. Cannabis Summit in Kelowna next spring; the Association for Canadian Cannabis Retailers, which represents more than 100 storefronts across B.C., and the BC Craft Farmers Co-op , which was established to provide small producers with a safe, accessible, and sustainable alternative to the illicit market.

The summit is aimed at exploring regulatory policies to make it easier for smaller independent producers to enter the market and will also connect the province’s independent retailers and craft farmers.

More and more small legacy growers across the province want to enter the legal market but current regulations make it a very costly venture to play in an arena dominated by corporate players. It’s hoped a stakeholder-wide review of the Cannabis Act, initiated in the fall, can lead to an easing of some of the burdensome micro-class licensing policies. Any changes to the laws could be legislated by the spring of 2023.

“The way the regulations are set up it’s very restrictive for them and I think it’s really holding back the market,” Cory Waldron, the CEO of Mood Cannabis, a retailer on Vancouver Island told Kelowna10. “We’re trying to advocate for changes in policy to make it a little easier for them to enter the market.”

Consumers want quality product

Waldron sees getting more independents into the market as part of the spirit of legalization and offsetting the illicit market. He said it’s important to embrace the legacy growers who have decades of quality production experience.

“That’s what the consumer wanted, is good cannabis … and that’s been a challenge throughout legalization, especially with the big producers, is to be able to produce a good quality product and the craft producers certainly fill that void.”

Barriers to smaller craft producers include municipal regulations around land use, as well as provincial and federal licensing and tax regimes that can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to annual costs, something that’s not economically viable for the micro-growers. Waldron said the cannabis summit in Kelowna will allow growers and retailers to meet face-to-face with each other and government regulators to discuss changes to help the industry be more sustainable.

Summit organizers said they want independent retailers and craft farmers to become established job creators, innovators and engines of economic growth that can support Canada’s post-pandemic recovery.

Vancouver-based Christina Michael is the founder and collective embodiment officer for The Entourage Collective, which has opened over 30 cannabis retail stores across Canada, including the first Farm-Gate store. She is also co-chair of the Women’s Committee of the B.C. Craft Farmers Co-op ,which focuses on highlighting women who work in the industry.

She said the summit will allow for cultivators and retailers to start building relationships and help differentiate their product from others in a highly competitive market.

“I think [it’s] going back to our roots, where B.C. bud has a sort of grounded history and a rooted legacy in the cannabis community and across the world,” she said. “So, I think ultimately people are craving a little more of a product mix and craving a little more craft cannabis for sure.”

Cannabis industry can be jobs creator

Michael said the industry has created a lot of jobs and, going forward, all elements can mature together because no one is coming into the space with a lot of historical regulation experience.

“With any new industry I think we’re going to be able to see a lot of new opportunities with career development. We need things like any other industry: we need marketers, accountants, CFO’s, sales representatives, we need growers, people who understand the plant and people who understand agriculture.”

The B.C. Cannabis Summit is scheduled for April 20 to 22, at the Eldorado Hotel. Organizers are working with Tourism Kelowna to develop a program for participants to extend their stay.