A Farmers Market, but Where the Main Produce is Weed
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — This farmers market is tucked behind the courthouse, amid the drugstores and gift shops you would find in many small American towns.
But New Paltz is full of surprises — and so is this market, which sells freshly grown cannabis.
The idea is simple: Take a regular farmers market, but instead of filling it with rows of fruits and vegetables, stock it with cannabis, enough to fill 10 stalls. Since Aug.10, farmers, manufacturers, producers, and retailers have been selling their products here from Thursday to Sunday every week.
“We made history,” said Tricia Ports, co-founder of High Falls Canna, a marijuana-cultivation company in the Hudson Valley, who organizes the event with her husband, Rick Weissman.
At the market, products come in many shapes and forms: pot-infused water, oil, gummies, and the traditional dried flowers of the plant. Prices range from $12 for a pre-rolled joint to $79 for marijuana concentrates.
“We are very happy with the turnout and sales number,” said Tyler Graves, sales director at NOWAVE, a cannabis-processing company, “but the real value comes in being able to educate as many people as we can about cannabis”
The market also serves as a response to the state’s slow rollout of marijuana sales. Though cannabis was legalized in New York state more than two years ago, few dispensaries have opened.
Various officials have tried to jump-start the process. New York City Mayor Eric Adams introduced the Cannabis Equity Program last year, offering those affected by drug laws a chance to benefit from the first round of pot-sales licenses, known as CAURD for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries.
Since then, nearly 500 CAURD licenses have been granted by New York’s Office of Cannabis Management. But a lawsuit filed by four veterans who felt left out led to a judge’s injunction. New York State Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant prohibited cannabis agencies from issuing new licenses, and from approving pending ones.
This has slowed cannabis sales, especially for those at the beginning of the supply chain — the farmers. To compensate, the Cannabis Control Board gave the green light to cannabis growers’ showcases like the farmers market.
Though New Paltz was the first to host a market, similar events are happening around the state. From New York City to Rochester, farmers are being given the opportunity to sell crops they’ve been sitting on for months.
John Kagia, a director at New York State’s Office of Cannabis Management, described it as “the world’s most consequential cannabis market,” during a recent Cannabis Control Board meeting. Around 70 farmers are participating in the program, with sales averaging $10,000 a day for all the markets across New York State combined. The Office of Cannabis Management said that it expects the program to generate $12 million in sales by the end of the year.
These events aren’t considered a replacement for retail dispensaries, but rather a way to allow pot to be sold while dispensaries are in limbo.
“New York State doesn’t have nearly enough licensed dispensaries right now. And the market is giving us a great chance to move some product, get to know our customer, get to understand what products they like” said Weissman.
The state has rules, though. Farmers can’t sell directly. For that, they must use independent sellers, at a ratio of one retailer for every three farmers. Buyers must be 21 or older. Consuming cannabis on the premises is prohibited.
Even with those restrictions, “we are seeing a nice, active, busy farmers market,” said Tim Rogers, mayor of New Paltz, which is about 85 miles north of New York City. It’s been especially helpful for farmers. “This was kind of like a safety valve to help them get rid of some of that inventory that they were told there would be demand for.”
The idea was presented to Rogers in June by cannabis farmers Weissman and Ports. A few weeks later, when the Office of Cannabis Management approved such events, New Paltz became the first to receive official authorization for the market.
This small mountain college town is a fitting place for the market’s debut: It was also one of the first in New York State to marry same-sex couples, years before gay marriage was widely legalized.
