Empire State of Cannabis

On a special crossover with Steve's Cannabis Show, we dived into the politics holding up New York’s push for adult-use cannabis legalization. CCG Policy Researcher Sarah McGovern took a close look at key Democrat Senate holdouts and found that the politics of New York City’s suburbs is largely to blame for legalization efforts failing over the past two years.

Join us for this fascinating joint episode of Empire State of Cannabis X Steve’s Cannabis Show!

Mayor Hal McCabe of Homer, NY, and also the Executive Director for the Legislative Commission of Rural Resources where he helps to advise policymakers to the impact of laws on rural communities. The commission has been focused on ensuring adult-use cannabis legalization affords opportunity to small growers.  

On this episode, the Mayor gives us unique insight into how small towns may welcome adult-use operations and explains some of the challenges it presents. 

It's been a rough year for New York hemp growers. Karli Miller-Hornick, CEO of New York Hemp Oil and Head & Heal, describes some of the major obstacles to developing a profitable hemp farming business and their journey to a successful vertically integrated operation.

Watch our conversation here with one of New York's most successful cannabis entrepreneurs.

As a farmer, family-business owner, and attorney, Jason Minard has a unique perspective on the hemp industry. Last year he joined the Hempire State Growers, a co-op growing 10 acres of high-CBD hemp, and was named their in-house counsel.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss what businesses need to do to safeguard their operation legally, how inconsistent regulations are providing roadblocks to the market, selling flower to the consumer, and more.

In this episode, Michael tells us his story from the beginning, shares some secrets to success, and defends the ability of a small grower to compete against "corporate cannabis".

In this episode, Michael tells us his story from the beginning, shares some secrets to success, and defends the ability of a small grower to compete against "corporate cannabis".

Full audio is available on your favorite platform including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Radio Public, Overcast, and more!

Touted as one of the New York Senate's "Most Conservative", Tom O'Mara was an early proponent of hemp. He helped push NY's first hemp bill to set up a pilot research program through the Senate in 2015.

We sat down with him to discuss the future of hemp in New York, establishing regualtions to help farmers access markets, his thoughts on adult-use cannabis legalization, and more.

***We had a technical issue with Kaelan's audio this episode, our  apologies*** This episode we talk to Jamison Sherretts, Creative Director at CSG, and  we take a dive into the behind the scenes of cannabis marketing,  content creation, and the philosophical question 'is any content truly  original?' Starting next week we will be moving our release day to Tuesday in order  to bring you some different content. Thanks for listening!

Eric Krohn is Director of Business Incubation Programming at Binghamton University. He provides guidance and mentoring to companies at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in Binghamton, NY. He has been a mentor to CSG ever since Kaelan's first venture into hemp wine.

Eddie Brennan is the President and Co-Owner of Beak & Skiff, a 108-year-old family business. You may recognize Beak & Skiff from their popular brand of 1911 Hard Apple Cider. 

A statewide leader in cider and apple production, Beak & Skiff is now turning its attention to hemp - recently completing their state-of-the-art extraction facility, known there as the "Hemp House". Brennan gives us some insight into their operations and rich history in this week's episode.

What lessons from the apple and cider supply chain can be applied to hemp? How can their impressive existing infrastructure be used to bring hemp extract products to the market?

We 've discussed the CBD supply chain often, but what about fiber?

This we took a dive into what the possibilities are with hemp based fibers, from a new carbon source to textiles, and what it will take to develop the infrastructure needed. Join us with Marc Privitera, the CEO/Principal Engineer at PreProcess Inc, as we chat about the science, economics, and environmental impact of fiber!