Cultivating Trust: Why Transparency Is the Future of Cannabis

There is a profound disconnect in modern life between how products are grown or made and how they ultimately affect the people who consume them. Most consumers are separated from the source of their food, their medicine, and their wellness products by layers of packaging, branding, and regulation. What’s missing in between is understanding — and that absence has real consequences for human health.

We witnessed this disconnect firsthand in organic vegetable farming, which we had done since 2016 before moving over to CBD cultivation in 2019. There was an unspoken assumption that if something appeared on a store shelf, it must be safe, honest, and aligned with their well-being. Over time, it became clear that this trust was often misplaced.

That realization shaped our mission.

At Grown Here Farms, we believe that what goes into something is what comes out of it — a philosophy as old as agriculture itself. When inputs are compromised, stripped, or poisoned, the outputs reflect that reality. This isn’t ideology; it’s biology. Yet modern systems encourage distance and detachment, making it easy for consumers to lose sight of the connection between source and self.

This disconnection becomes even more concerning when applied to cannabis and CBD products — particularly when they are used for medical and therapeutic purposes. Many people rely on CBD and THC to support serious health concerns, from neurological disorders to chronic pain, sleep disruption, anxiety, addressing chemotherapy side effects and PTSD. In those cases, the responsibility of the grower is immense.

Much of the industry evaluates cannabis based on surface-level characteristics like appearance, alleged potency and aroma, while ignoring the growing methods behind the product. This is a critical oversight, especially when cannabis is being used for medical and wellness purposes. A flower’s appearance tells part of the story — but the soil, inputs, and integrity behind it tell the truth.

If a company is unwilling to be transparent about how their product is grown and harvested, there is usually a reason. And consumers should be deeply cautious of that. Pesticides, chemical fertilizers, mechanical or full-plant harvest methods (which lead to diminished or inconsistent plant potency and compromised terpenes), fraudulent lab tests and irradiation are often hidden behind vague claims and opaque supply chains, even though they directly affect the final product and, ultimately, the human body.

Transparency is not a marketing feature — it is a moral obligation.

That belief is why we created what we believe to be a cannabis industry first: a full-spectrum traceability app that allows customers to see exactly how their CBD flower was grown.

From soil tests and field inputs to lab results, licences, and even the environmental conditions surrounding the crop, the entire story is accessible. Not because it’s trendy — but because it’s necessary.

We believe people deserve to know what they are putting into their bodies, especially when those products are used for healing.

Our approach starts with the soil. We practice soil-first farming because soil is not inert — it is alive. Like the human microbiome, soil health determines plant vitality. When soil is nurtured through organic matter, cover crops, mycorrhizal networks, and minimal disturbance, plants grow in balance. When soil is stripped or poisoned, imbalance shows up as disease, pests, and dependency on chemical interventions.

This is where our philosophy of Love In. Love Out. comes to life.

Garbage in, garbage out is the crude version of the truth. Love in, love out is the conscious one. Care for the soil. Respect the plant. Honor the people who trust what you grow.

Modern consumers are beginning to wake up to the idea that wellness is cumulative — that food, medicine, and environment are inseparable from physical and mental health. But awareness alone is not enough. The industry must meet that awakening with honesty and accountability.

We cannot continue to ask people to trust products without offering proof. We cannot ask medical users to accept unknown inputs. And we cannot pretend that how something is grown doesn’t matter when the science — and lived experience — clearly shows that it does.

Our role, as growers, is not simply to produce a product. It is to steward trust.

Radical transparency is not the end goal — it is the starting point. From there, we can begin rebuilding the relationship between people and the things they consume, closing the gap between source and self, and helping consumers make informed choices that truly support their health.

That is our area of expertise. And it is the work we believe the entire industry must commit to if it hopes to mature with credibility, integrity, and purpose.