This episode is part of our “What Plants Crave” series, where Dr. Sabeh speaks with growers, researchers, and other experts in other engineers, growers, and manufacturers who work in controlled environment agriculture, to get their insights about the direction of the industry, and of course, what exactly it is that plants crave.

Born and raised in Salinas in a family of entrepreneurs and having a degree  from Saint Mary's CA in Business, Sales and Marketing as well as extensive knowledge of Agriculture, it is no wonder she is a true Leader and a success story. Michelle is the President of the largest female minority owned cannabis company in the world that is fully vertically integrated, with 75% of company’s workforce being minority women. 

Riverview Farms was established in 2016 and is the first Cannabis operation in the Salinas Valley to get the exemption to grow within Monterey county,  Michelle was first exposed to Agriculture in college and continued her path by interning and working for various companies, until she joined her father Mike, the founder of RVF to run the sales division and eventually taking over the company’s full operation. 

Michelle has been able to make connections with some of the largest brands, distributors, and retail outlets in the state, and have made them both clients and friends. Her “take no prisoners” attitude and drive has earned her a real name in the Cannabis industry. She has broken many barriers and continues to challenge the county to help improve it's rules and regulations  and adapt new ways of doing business. Michelle enjoys the cannabis industry due to the fact that she is able to learn something new everyday, and being at the starting point to the industry makes her able to influence it and set trends and be apart of the evolution of this fast passed growing market. She credits her family and RVF team, the most amazing staff of hardworking and dedicated people that treat her and her family like their own for all the success that she has been able to accomplish thus far. Michelle is also a current board member of MCCIA.

In Part 2 of my conversation with Michelle Hackett, we talk about efficiency and how investing in more automation and technology doesn’t necessarily translate to lower costs of production. We take a deep dive into the current challenges faced by California cannabis cultivators in today’s market and why local stakeholder meetings and collaboration with like-minded individuals will be the saving grace for this new farming industry. Plus, find out which lettuce gets a shout out!

Part 2 - Timestamp

03:30 Investing in automation and people

06:00 Efficiency = The best cannabis for the lowest cost inputs

10:20 Cross-training employees to improve collaboration

16:15 Challenges of the California cannabis market

23:00 Taxes!

28:30 Finding a voice in government

30:45 Locally communicative, but widely cut-throat

35:00 Collaborating with like-minded individuals

38:30 The future of cannabis

40:50 Reaching for the sun!

44:00 Rapid fire questions