Who has the finest flower? California State Fair to hold first marijuana competition

Cannabis is coming to the California State Fair.

For the first time, the fair in 2022 will host a competition — open to all licensed cannabis cultivators in the state — to judge the finest flower in California.

Entrants will be divided into three divisions: indoor, mixed light and outdoor. Judges will evaluate the cannabis flower, with seven individual cannabis plant compounds being tested and identified for awards. That includes two cannabinoids — CBD and THC— and five terpenes, which are naturally occurring aromatic compounds that give the plant its characteristic smell and which are a source of plant essential oils and resins.

The California State Fair will hand out 77 bronze, silver, gold and double gold medals to the winners, as well as seven Golden Bear trophies for the “Best of California” in each category.

“We are pleased to celebrate California’s legal and licensed cannabis industry as part of the California State Fair in 2022,” said Jess Durfee, chairman of the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors, in a statement. “For the past 166 years, the California State Fair has always been a first mover, leading the state fair circuit with innovative programming and large-scale competitions that celebrate the best the state has to offer, making the addition of cannabis cultivation a natural new category.”

Cannabis will join other California products, such as wine, craft beer, olive oil and cheese that have competitions at the fair.

California voters in 2016 voted to legalize cannabis for recreational adult use. Since then, it has gone on to become a multi-billion-dollar industry in the state.

The California State Fair competition will be conducted in partnership with Cultivar Brands, a California-based cannabis marketing firm “who specializes in the creation of programs that continue to move cannabis into the mainstream,” according to a statement.

“The launch of state-sanctioned awards is a watershed moment for the Californian cannabis industry,” Cultivar Brands CEO Brian Applegarth said in a statement. “Not only will we showcase the California farmer, large and small, and the incredible cannabis flower that the state has to offer, but we will educate and demystify the plant, challenge the stereotypes and continue to evolve towards normalcy.”

SC Labs will conduct the testing of the cannabis flowers.

“I’m really excited to be involved with the state fair because it is the traditional place where the agricultural community comes to show off their best work,” SC Labs co-founder and President Josh Wurzer said in a statement. “This just further validates cannabis as part of that community. As a cannabis scientist, it’s really cool to see an event like this putting the data and analytics at the forefront of the process. It’s making a big leap forward for the application of quantitative cannabis testing to actually measure the qualitative aspects of cannabis.”

Cannabis growers can submit their plants for consideration from Nov. 1 to March 30, 2022. Award winners will be announced in May 2022.

Although there will be no sales or consumption of cannabis products containing THC at the California State Fair, there will be a 21-and-older interactive cannabis industry area at the fair where the award winners will be celebrated.