At the California State Fair, you may expect livestock exhibits, produce and art competitions. But in true Golden State fashion, the California state fair also includes a full cannabis exhibit. Entrants’ cannabis is tested by SC Labs for terpenes, cannabinoids, and other scientific factors.
Shanon Taliaferro, C.E.O. of Green Ox, Inc. says “When we understood that the California State Fair was basing this just on a scientific result, we knew that we had something special. I want to give a lot of thanks back to the team here at the Green Ox,” says Shanon. The Green Ox is a collective of 9 Humboldt County farms, collectively sold under the brand name Humboldt Homegrown.
Humboldt County’s own Skyline Farms won 5 awards, including two gold medals and three silver medals for one of their Humboldt Homegrown strains. “Our farms grow bulk,” he continues, “and sometimes it’s chosen for a brand Humboldt homegrown. In this case, this Modified Sherbert was chosen, and this is what really got the ball rolling.”
There are four main categories in cannabis competition. Three are flower categories: sun-grown, mixed light, and indoor. The ‘other’ category includes edibles, tinctures and more.
Humboldt Homegrown’s Mixed Sherbert won several awards in the mixed light category.
Humboldt Homegrown’s Mixed Sherbet, grown by Skyline Farms, won several awards in the Mixed Light (light deprivation) category.
“We don’t use lights in our greenhouses,” explains Casandra, “but our farmers actually pull tarp. And it’s called light deprivation, where you change the sun by pulling a blackout tarp over the greenhouse.”
“You’re just basically tricking the plants into going into flower,” Shanon adds.
“We received five total medals and they were all based on test results from SC labs. And the first gold medal was given in mixed co-dominant terpenes MCL, and the second gold medal was given in mixed light limonene. We also got silver in mixed light pinene, silver in THCa, and silver in total terpene content.”
The Humboldt County Growers Alliance made it possible for several local farms to enter the state fair competition.
Casandra says it’s not just about the success of their own brand, “We’re doing it for the total success of Humboldt County.” She adds that customers should always ask for Humboldt Grown cannabis in local retail stores.
Other winning Humboldt County farms include The Farmer and the Felon, True Mom & Pop Farm, and Sunrise Mountain Farms in the “Sungrown” category, and MOCA Humboldt in the “Indoor” category.
