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Our mission is to empower and assure that the regulated Cannabis industry achieves environmental, economic, and social sustainability
The Cannabis Conservancy provides Sustainability Certification to legal Cannabis organizations that adhere to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), are free of harmful chemical inputs, utilize waste reduction methods, are energy efficient, and conserve water.
We offer our Sustainability Certification for Individual Growers and Grower Groups
Once an organization has completed the initial registration process, your TCC assigned guide will work with your organization throughout the Certification Process.
Stewardship • Education • Certification
Meet Our Team
Jacob Policzer
Co-founder, Director of Science and Strategy
Over the last six years, Jacob has focused exclusively on assessing and mitigating the environmental impacts of cannabis cultivation which has culminated in TCC’s new Simply Certified suite of certifications. He also helped co-develop the Sun + Earth Certified regenerative cannabis nonprofit, where he has served as a Board member for the past three years. Prior to TCC, Jacob has been working professionally in the fields of environmental management, agriculture, and sustainability.
Jacob obtained a M.Sc. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management through the Erasmus Mundus MESPOM consortium with a focus on urban agricultural sustainability. He earned his B.S. in environmental studies from Emory University and his permaculture, eco-village, and natural building design certificates from the Center of Creative Ecology in Israel.
Jacob is currently a committee member of the City of Denver Cannabis Sustainability Work Group, NCIA’s Cannabis Cultivation Committee, and the Southern Colorado Cannabis Alliance. Throughout his career, Jacob has strived to find innovative and pragmatic solutions to the world’s complex environmental problems and is now applying his knowledge and experience to address the environmental issues pertaining to the cannabis industry.
Brittny Anderson
Co-Founder & Director of Operations - Nelson, BC, Canada
Brittny, a co-founder and Director of Operations of The Cannabis Conservancy, grew up in Canada’s cannabis capital, Nelson BC. In 2018, she was elected to serve as a Councillor for the City of Nelson. She has had a lifelong interest in the cultivation and legalization of Cannabis. Her interest in corporate environmental practices was reinforced while working in Canada’s oil sands with a small contractor at Suncor, the first company to develop the oil sands, which inspired her to pursue an internship on Vandana Shiva’s seed saving farm in India and an M.Sc. in Environmental Science and Policy. Brittny has led teams in product development, service procurement (multi-million-dollar service contracts), sales, and communications. Her expertise includes policy development and implementation, environmental education and scientific research. Before coming on full time with TCC she was the Environmental Technologist for the Regional District of Central Kootenay. Her professional focus includes resource conservation, resource recovery, and agriculture. She currently sits on NCIA’s Scientific Advisory Committee.
Brian Farmer
Co-Founder & Director of Certification Services - New Paltz, NY, USA
Brian, based in Upstate New York, comes from a long line of plant people and professionals in the agricultural arena. He brings 30 years of experience as a small commercial organic grower with an emphasis on sustainable practices and production of heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables. He has worked as an Integrated Pest Management consultant, agricultural consultant, and farm certifier, working domestically and internationally with major international 3rd party certification bodies. Since 2007 he has audited hundreds of farms, greenhouses, packing houses, and processors to accredited 3rd party standards. As a consultant, he has worked with growers, processors and packing houses to develop Good Agricultural Practices and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point based food safety plans.
Jeromy Lord
Director of West Coast Farm Certifications - Humboldt County, California, USA
Jeromy Lord’s roots run deep into the multi-generational landscape that is Humboldt County small farming. In the 1970’s, his family established one of the first Certified Organic vegetable farms in the western region of the U.S. He works with both innate intuitive farming practices as well as a vast array of knowledge he has obtained over his lifelong participation within the industry. Deeply entrenched in the local community of old school growers of the northern coast of California, known as the Emerald Triangle, he is our man in the field. With 4+ years of organic certification for the USDA, his strengths are both his knowledge and expertise of the certification process as well as his direct farmer to farmer contact. Jeromy occupies a highly valuable place in the vast network of farmers in his community. His goal is to carefully meld the old sustainable practices of the industry within the introduction of the current permitting process.
Katie Stone
Ambassador and Advisor - Oakland, California, USA
A lifelong drug policy reform activist, Katie has advocated for Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Cannabis Industry since moving to California in 2009. She’s held internship and research positions with The Arcview Group, The Drug Policy Alliance, and Resource Innovation Institute. A former board member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Katiewas a California Regents Scholar at UC Davis where she earned a B.Sc in Community and Regional Development. While completing her M.A in Transformative Leadership at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Katie launched Green B Consulting to help organizations develop and implement sustainability programs. Currently a PhD student in the Department of Transformative Studies at CIIS, Katie is organizing The Kind Guide, an app designed to bridge consumers and business owners in collaborative, grassroots community development models that directly repair the harms of the Drug War. You can find her on the road with her dog, Elvis, hosting community workshops and facilitating discussions on the social and environmental impacts of cannabis policy reform.
Suehiko Ono
Ambassador - Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA
Suehiko is co-founder of EOS Farm LLC in Pittsfield, MA. He received his training in ecological farming and horticulture first as a farm apprentice at Green Gulch Farm, Zen Center, then at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at U.C.S.C. in Santa Cruz, CA. From 2001-2004, Suehiko was the Farm Director at Cliffdale Farm at Teatown Lake Reservation, Ossining, NY. Suehiko created the CSA, operated, and managed all farm operations. From 2008 to 2018, Suehiko studied traditional Japanese martial arts and worked as a real estate salesman for Diamond Resorts International in Sedona, AZ. Before moving to Arizona, Suehiko worked as an Associate Attorney in New York. Suehiko has extensive education including Columbia University School of Law, JD.
Fran Janik
Ambassador - Jamaica Vermont, USA
Cannabis Patient, Grower, Advocate, Media Coordinator, Professional Consultant
Since 2011 concurrent with his deepening involvement and passion for legalization of cannabis and cannabis access issues, Fran has developed a range of skills required to become an effective activist and advocate. He has dedicated himself to working for medical patient needs for safe clean and affordable cannabis therapy products. Understanding the cannabis experience as both a medical patient and citizen advocate, Fran is able to quickly evaluate, coordinate and facilitate information about the range of possibilities for Cannabis Business focused on human based need solutions. He actively works to provide answers to tailored solutions to unique sets of opportunities and challenges in a full range of end use friendly / viable cost effective solutions.
Harry Etra
Ambassador and Advisor - New York New York, USA
Harry Etra is the CEO & Founder of HXE Partners. Harry’s experience is in advising public and private companies on their sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies. As a Principal at CamberView Partners, he helped companies prioritize their sustainability disclosures and prepare for engagements with institutional investors. Previously as a Director at CodeGreen Solutions, he advised companies on ESG best practices with a focus on sustainability and energy efficiency within the real estate sectors. His experience includes working with clients to develop annual sustainability reports and earn recognition for their ESG initiatives through reporting programs such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and ENERGY STAR. Harry holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in history from Yale University.
Kaila Lemons
Kaila is pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Botany at Weber State University, where she is a Zero Waste Coordinator, contributing to WSU’s carbon-neutral by 2040 commitment. In the past, Kaila served as a national ambassador; a mentor for youth worldwide, and a representative that spoke to sponsors, government officials, and audiences of up to 2,000 people in four cities across the United States about youth advocacy. She served as Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute’s Chairman of the Make Program, managing a 25 person workforce in a prototyping space. Kaila was also an Environmental Planner intern with TY Lin International, where she learned about federal compliance and worked on five projects in California. Recently, she completed an undergraduate research project on heavy metals in Great Salt Lake’s microbiome. Motivated by sustainability, Kaila is execution-oriented and has a passion for solution design. In the future, she would like to be a leader in the corporate sustainability space, using cannabis as a tool for climate action.
Kelly O’Roke
Humboldt County, California USA
Kelly O’Roke has always been curious and fascinated by the concept of energy. She did her undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics, with a design sequence in Nanoscience and Technology from the University of Oklahoma. To cope with the stress of that course of study, she took up yoga and became deeply interested in the philosophy and practice of it. After college, she worked for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality before moving on to her own homestead, starting a family, and taking a winding professional path to Humboldt County, California. From 2017-2020, Kelly owned and operated the largest yoga studio and teacher training program in Humboldt County, and also worked independently providing photography, web design, technical writing and business development services to Cannabis industry clients in the Triangle. When the Pandemic arrived, she was forced to close the studio but has pivoted quickly to support the mission of the Cannabis Conservancy and Sun+Earth Certified with a diverse set of skills. She currently serves as the Director of the regional non-profit, ‘The Redwood Alternative Agriculture Fund,’ which she and legacy farmer Jeromy Lord formed in late 2020 in order to off-set the cost of sustainability certification for the small Humboldt producer. She is a lifelong seeker of knowledge of all types: intuitive, scientific and practical and enjoys finding all kinds of creative ways to save energy, especially the human powered kind. She is passionate about protecting our natural world and bringing more compassion, efficiency and effective communication to the emerging legal cannabis industry.
Mike Biltonen
Ambassador - Ithaca, New York, USA
Mike Biltonen has 32 years’ experience as a tree fruit grower, consultant, and academician. Experienced, trained, and/or certified in USDA-GAP, GlobalGAP, BRC, Tesco, SQF, ISO22000, PrimusLabs/GFS food safety systems. Consulting expertise offering custom services focused on the organic, biodynamic, and holistic production.
Caitlin Silber
Humboldt County, California USA
As an avid home gardener and natural “green-thumb”, Caitlin has always had a love of plants. Holding vested interest in soil replenishment & regeneration, she has experience in the implementation of permaculture, agroforestry and use of renewable resources. She believes in a future of sustainable farming and is an advocate for heirloom & non-GMO seed saving. In 2021 Caitlin will complete her Permacultural Design Certification. This next step will help enhance her understanding of larger scale agriculture and all of its complexities.