A Direct-to-Consumer Pilot for California’s Small Cannabis Farms
California has many small legal cannabis farms growing safe products, and consumers want to support these small farms.
But the current distribution model often keeps those consumers and farms separated due to high costs and barriers to entry.
Higher Origins proposes a direct access pilot which would allow licensed small farms to sell and ship directly to California consumers.
This is not deregulation, it’s economic accessibility.
This is a practical path to help consumers access legal small farm cannabis, help a large portion of the industry survive, and ensure that cannabis revenues are not destructively extracted from rural areas. Likewise, this pilot would prepare California for future expanded commerce, boost tax revenue, and help challenge the illegal market, all while limiting the program scale for easier regulation.
Small Farm Direct Access Pilot
- 10,000 sq. ft. or less of total affiliated canopy
- Farm-origin products only
- California consumers only
- Tested, taxed, tracked, and age-verified
10,000 sq. ft. or less
Targeted at genuinely small producers with a total affiliated canopy limit.
Traceable Source
Consumers can verify the exact origin and cultivation batch of every farm product.
Farm-origin only
Farms can sell only what they grow, preventing reselling, price fixing, or bulk-buy loopholes.
The Problem
Consumer Access Gap
Many consumers cannot easily access small farm cannabis.
Small Farm Market Gap
Licensed small farms often lack practical access to retail shelves and consumer relationships.
Rural Economic Gap
Producing communities do not always capture the consumer value of the cannabis they grow.
Consumers Can’t Easily Reach Licensed Small Farms
California consumers want to buy small farm legal cannabis just like they want to buy other craft-style products from small businesses, but legal access is not evenly available across the state. Many communities have limited retail access, no nearby storefronts, or few practical ways to find small farm products from legal producers.
At the same time, small farms have met the State standards and are fully licensed, regulated, and compliant, but still struggle to reach consumers through the current retail structure, making it hard to recoup their regulatory costs.
The result is a broken connection: consumers want to support small farms, and small farms need consumer access to survive, but the legal market does not provide a clear path between them.
Small Farms Are Legal, But Still Lack Market Access
A cannabis farm can follow the rules, pay licensing costs, test its products, comply with local requirements, and still have no reliable path to the consumer.
Small farms face:
- Limited shelf access
- Wholesale price pressure
- High compliance costs
- Limited brand visibility
- Distance from major retail markets
- A retail system that often rewards scale over farm identity
For small producers, legalization did not automatically create a fair market. It created a legal market with artificially imposed distribution limits that caters to large commodity operators over small craft producers.
Retail Access Is Uneven Across California
Retail access is one of the biggest structural gaps in California cannabis.
When legal retail access is limited, consumers do not stop using cannabis. They are simply pushed toward unregulated sources, longer travel distances, or expensive and limited delivery options.
A direct access pilot would not replace retailers, rather it is intended to shift a measurable share of consumer purchases from unlicensed to licensed channels. The evaluation would separately measure net-new legal sales and any displacement of existing licensed retail sales. Since retailers often do not support this category, the available data suggest it would have limited effect on established retail sales.
The Proposal
The Pilot Framework
A Small-Farm Direct Access Pilot
California should create a limited direct access pilot for licensed small cannabis farms.
The pilot would allow qualifying small farms to sell and deliver farm-origin cannabis products directly to adult consumers in California, subject to strict rules for eligibility, testing, tracking, tax collection, and age verification.
Who Would Qualify?
The pilot should be limited to licensed California cultivators with 10,000 sq. ft. or less of total affiliated canopy.
Recommended eligibility:
- Licensed California cultivator
- 10,000 sq. ft. or less of total affiliated canopy
- Common ownership and affiliated licenses counted together
- Farm-origin products only
- Products must be cultivated by the participating farm or made from that farm’s cannabis
What Would Be Allowed?
Qualifying farms would be allowed to make limited direct sales to California consumers.
Allowed activity:
- California-only direct consumer sales
- Tested, packaged, labeled products
- Tax collection at checkout
- Track-and-trace reporting
- Age verification at checkout and delivery
- Adult signature requirement
- DCC reporting and audit authority
What Would Not Be Allowed?
This pilot should not become a loophole for large operators.
Not allowed:
- Interstate sales
- Untested products
- Untracked products
- Reselling other farms’ products
- Large ownership groups splitting licenses to qualify
- Sale through a license not owned by the origin farm
Why It Matters
Consumers
More legal access to legal cannabis from small producers, regardless of jurisdiction
Small Farms
A direct channel to grow their business, recoup regulatory costs, and raise local revenue
Rural Communities
Direct sales may allow participating farms to retain a larger share of the final purchase price, keeping more revenue in producing regions.
Legal Market
More tested, taxed, trackable sales, reduced incentives to sell or purchase illegally
Better Access for Consumers
Consumers should have a legal way to support the small farms they care about. Direct access would give California consumers more transparency into where their cannabis comes from, who grew it, and how it was produced. This direct model gives consumers a more informed free-market choice to vote with their dollars, in the same way they can with groceries, alcohol, and countless other goods and services in the California economy.
More Stability for Small Farms
Small farms need more than occasional event access or uncertain retail shelf space. A direct access program would give small farms a meaningful channel to build direct relationships with consumers, without having to rely on third parties to accurately and fairly bring their products to market.
More Economic Benefit for Rural Communities
Small cannabis farms support rural economies. Direct sales may allow participating farms to retain a larger share of the final purchase price. The pilot should separately report where farm revenue, sales tax, excise tax, and local tax are allocated. Rural areas have limited options to generate funding and economic stimulus. Direct local agricultural revenue would reduce rural jurisdiction’s reliance on state funding and allow them to compete with their peers on the merits of their economics.
A Stronger Legal Market
California’s legal market works better when consumers have real access to tested, regulated products. Direct access would help convert consumer demand into legal, taxable, trackable sales while reducing the incentive for small farms to participate in the illegal market.
The Ask
Higher Origins is asking California policymakers, DCC leadership, local officials, farms, consumers, and industry stakeholders to support a small-farm direct access pilot.
I’m a Farm
Sign the Farm LetterI’m a Consumer
Support Direct AccessI’m an Organization
Endorse the ProposalI’m an Official or Staffer
Request the Policy PacketSupport a Regulated Direct Access Pilot
The pilot should be narrow, measurable, and enforceable. It should be designed to help small producers, expand legal consumer access, and generate taxable activity without replacing the existing retail system.
For State Legislators
Support legislation creating a direct access pilot for licensed small cannabis farms. The bill should include anti-stacking rules, farm-origin product requirements, and clear, low-friction reporting regulations.
For DCC
Support a feasibility review of small-farm direct access and publish guidance on how a pilot could be structured, enforced, tracked, and measured. Include economic cost-benefit analysis of revenue versus regulatory burden.
For Farms
Sign on to show that licensed small farms need a practical, legal path to consumers. Help build a public record of need. If possible, communicate to your local officials the amount of local revenue this would help you generate.
For Consumers
Sign on to show that California consumers want legal access to licensed small farms. Tell your story of why farm-origin access matters.
Common Questions
Is this 10,000 sq. ft. or less?
The proposal is for licensed California cultivators with 10,000 sq. ft. or less of total affiliated canopy.
Would farms need a retail license?
Under current California law, cannabis sales to the public generally require a retail license. This proposal asks California to create a limited direct-access endorsement for eligible small farms so they can sell only their own farm-origin products without obtaining a full Type 9 or Type 10 retail license.
Could farms resell products from other farms or brands?
No. The pilot should be farm-origin only. Participating farms could sell only cannabis they cultivated, or products made from cannabis they cultivated.
Would this apply to indoor, mixed-light, and outdoor farms?
Yes, if they meet the canopy, ownership, and product-origin requirements. The policy should target genuinely small producers, not pick winners between outdoor, mixed-light, and indoor cultivation.
Does federal rescheduling solve this?
No. Federal rescheduling may improve the broader cannabis environment, but California still needs state-level legislation or authorization for small-farm direct access.