Clean Green Certify
Cannabis
Steps to Certification
For Your Probiotic
and Organic
Cannabis Grows and
Products
A tall “land race” sativa gown in central California.
by Chris Van Hook
C
ontinued legalization of
medical and adult use
marijuana has resulted in an
increase in the production of
marijuana grown throughout the
nation. This often leads to over
production with the resultant drop
in farm price paid to the farmer.
Responsible farmers want a way to
show their customers that they are
taking the proper steps to grow in
a sustainable manner using
organic farming practices.
As distribution facilities open up
across many states operators often
look for a mechanism to set their
outlet apart from the others in the
region. For both the crop
producer as well as the processor/
handler the Clean Green
Certification Program is a way to
do just that.
The Clean Green Certification
Program is the only nationally
recognized, qualified third party
certification program available for
cannabis. The program is based
on national and international
organic standards and farming
methods. The program goes
beyond the USDA organic
standards in some ways to better
tailor the program to the particular
issues surrounding cannabis
production and processing/
handling. Two ways the program
is more rigorous then the USDA
program are that every farmer
every year has a soil and leaf
sample collected and sent to a
federally licensed agricultural
laboratory to be screened for up to
150 pesticides. Another way the
Clean Green Program addresses
the concerns of the industry is that
every farmer and handler must
have a carbon footprint reduction
program in place to be certified
and that program must improve
each year.
Francisco High Times Cup for five
years. (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
and 2014!). Certified growers
have placed in the Seattle High
Times Cup (2014) won and placed
in the Emerald Cup in Laytonville,
Becoming a Clean Green Certified
operation puts a growing
operation or distribution center
into a family of the best growers in
the United States, and the awards
to prove that are on the wall. A
Clean Green Certified Grower has
won or placed in the San
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