Sun+Earth Certified was founded two years ago on Earth Day by cannabis industry leaders, experts, and advocates with a common commitment to regenerative organic agriculture, farmer and farmworker protections, and community engagement.
Citing little-to-no regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from growing cannabis, researchers at Colorado State University explain in a new academic study published last month that moving the plant from indoor facilities to outdoor farms would dramatically shrink the industry’s carbon footprint.
Reinforcing this latest research, a 2012 academic report from UC Berkeley found that all cannabis grown in the US uses at least one percent of all electricity consumed in the country at a cost of $6 billion per year.
The Sun+Earth seal sets itself apart from other organic programs by guaranteeing that certified businesses cultivate and manufacture products using cannabis grown under the sun with regenerative organic farming practices.
In the two years since it was founded, Sun+Earth has certified 42 cannabis farms in six states—California, Colorado, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin—whose products are sold at hundreds of retail outlets across the country.
Amid the strain on global supplies of food and medicine made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sun+Earth is helping to highlight the benefits and resiliency of local supply chains.
The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry.