May 1, 2020,04:20pm EDT
Ball Family Farms Founder Chris Ball On Social Equity And Pheno Hunting
Warren Bobrow Contributor
Chris Ball of Ball Family Farms
"Ball Family Farms" This is an excerpt from an email I received. Reprinting it is relevant because reading the words help paint a picture of passion in growing truly exceptional cannabis.
I recently read your article 'Cut & Dry Platinum Bubba Kush Aka: Play Charms My Palate' on Forbes and found it very insightful in regards to your explanation of effects, taste notes and Cut & Dry's approach to growing. Would you be interested in expanding on the subject of unique cultivars as they pertain to standing out in an oversaturated market? Did you know there’s only around twelve cultivars and their various hybrids based on terpene distinction and THC/CBD/CBG analysis in the modern market? Regardless of unique names, plant genetics in the industry are fairly homogeneous. Why? Most cultivators want to maximize profit by minimizing the time it takes to flip crops and cutting corners (like pheno-hunting) they think consumers won’t notice.
Chris Ball
Ball Family Farms Conversely, one minority owned grow (first vertically integrated Social Equity company in Los Angeles) is relying 100% on pheno-hunted genetics to set them apart from the crowd. And it is yielding them some of the most popular flower within their network of 30+ dispensaries. Pheno-hunting allows for cultivators to identify unique plant traits and create wholly unique cultivars. This process takes up to 6 months, then another 3 months to create a crop for commercial sale. This tedious process takes time and money, which most cultivators don’t see as essential for their business models. But according to the grow’s founder, a self-taught botanist, the final results after 9 months of pheno-hunting are just as valuable and unique as their nostalgic names: Daniel LaRusso, Miyagi-Do, Bonzai Tree, Bruce Leeroy and Laura Charles. Not only are the cultivars entirely unique to the brand, but they also consistently outperform similarly priced flower in lab tests and potency analysis.
Please enjoy this very cool, Five Questions piece on an intriguing entrepreneur who took the reins and said let’s be like a scientist and grow!
Michael, Chris, and Charles Ball NATHAN JAMES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHT TO NATHAN JAMES
Warren Bobrow=WB: Why cannabis? What is your history with the plant? Where are you from?
Chris Ball=CB: I was first introduced to cannabis when I was about 10 years old by my stepfather, Mr. Charles Ball. Cannabis was like cigarettes in my house. Growing up as a kid in Southern California, I used to watch my dad pull his tray out from underneath the couch after he was done eating, roll up and smoke his joint. My mom would pour her glass of wine and light up her cigarette. And that's how my parents relaxed after dinner. Cannabis was something that my uncle smoked, my auntie smoked, my grandma smoked. So, to me, it never really seemed to be something bad. But growing up in the eighties, I used to see those “Just Say No!” ad campaigns that Ronald Reagan was pushing. It was a little confusing to me. I’d go to school and they’d say, “Just say no, just say no!” Then I’d go home, and my dad would be smoking it, or I would go to family barbecues and my whole family would be smoking it. From my perspective cannabis didn’t really appear to be as drastic or wrong as the government led me to believe. When I turned 16, I was introduced to cannabis as a money-making mechanism. My younger cousin taught me the game and I soaked it up like a sponge. I was fascinated by him and I was fascinated by the money and how fast it came. Fast forward to eight years later, I did my first real big transaction and made five figures off one deal. After that, I was hooked. I became obsessed with not only the weed business, but the plant itself. I loved everything about it. The funny thing was I didn't smoke. I had tried it a couple of times, but it just wasn't for me. But I wanted to be the best possible salesman, so I studied the plant extensively.
This was about 2003 - from then on, the rest has been history.
WB: Please tell me about your company? What makes it better than your competitors? Did you go to B school? School of Hard Knocks? Where?
CB: Ball Family Farms is 100 percent family owned and black owned. We are vertically integrated and have one of the largest social equity footprints in Los Angeles that has successfully transitioned from the traditional market to the formal market.
Early on I knew the only way to scale the business was to find people who complimented my cultivation expertise and distribution network. And given the sensitive nature of the business, I knew I needed a talented but more importantly, a trustworthy team. So, I recruited my younger brother, Charles Ball, a retired baseball player with nearly a decade of corporate experience and then my cousin Michael Ball. Charles focuses on the daily business operations and development strategy and Michael helps manage facility operations and cultivation employees. Then as fate had it, we met Ebony J. McGee Andersen, CEO of ejma Planning + Development, just as the state geared up to issue temporary commercial cannabis licenses. Ebony was a compliance master and agreed to assist. Since then, she’s definitely become an honorary member of the Ball Family.
Chris Ball NATHAN JAMES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHT TO NATHAN JAMES
BFF is one of few cannabis companies that prioritizes equal pay, diversity and inclusion, and the empowerment of women in the workplace. As a tribute we embrace the motto and tagline, “Cultivating the Culture…from the Ground UP!”
Our flower and genetics are what set us apart from the competition. We take a lot of pride in what we do. We are here for the products, for our consumers and for the sport of being considered the best cultivators on the planet. We are true to the culture. We have over 25 years of combined experience in this field. We understand it. We come from it. We eat it. We live it. We breathe it. We’ve been incarcerated for it. We’ve sacrificed for it. We aren’t just here for the quick money; we are here to build generational wealth.
I graduated from The University of California Berkeley where I majored in Sociology and minored in Business. While I am highly-educated – I really learned my cannabis game from hustling in the traditional (or “black”) market. I was incarcerated in 2010, where I learned a couple valuable lessons about being federally investigated and indicted. I gained my experiences in business back in college and gained other experiences and knowledge from being in the street and doing things wrong.
I had to suffer the consequences for those mistakes, but in the end it made me a better businessman and person.
WB: Do you have a mentor? Indoor or outdoor grown? Living soil? Organic? Biodynamic? What is your six and twelve month goal? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing them?
CB: There are three mentors in my life who continue to support me in my journey. First, one of my best friends, Wilmer Valderrama. He's an actor and philanthropist. He’s a highly intelligent individual who mentors me on a daily basis. Second, would be another really close friend of mine, Kevin Hart. He mentors me about business and growing into your success. He’s taught me how to lead a large team of people and how to manage those people and expectations. Last but not least would be my boy, Al Harrington, the CEO of Viola. He's got so much more experience in the formal market, so he's been mentoring me on how to be a Cannabis CEO and what things to look out for in my transition. When it comes to cultivation techniques, I would say Indoor for sure. At Ball Family Farms we do a combination of living soil, organic and biodynamic cultivation in a proprietary process we’ve perfected over the years. My six-month goal is to be actively in fifty dispensaries in the Los Angeles area. We are currently in thirty-two dispensaries. My twelve-month goal is to be in one hundred dispensaries throughout the state of California and to own and operate our own delivery license so that we can go direct-to-consumer.
Our biggest obstacle has been the social equity program itself. It’s taken the city of Los Angeles a lot more time than expected to figure out how to get this process to work properly. It’s been a moving target for us operators to not only sustain our business, but to develop processes so we can be successful at it as well. In order to get past these obstacles, we are over preparing and being overly compliant, while making sure we continue cultivating some of the best flower on the market. As long as we do that, we can keep our business operating until the city figures this out. We can weather any storm being thrown our way, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
WB: What is your favorite restaurant? Where? Do you cook? Favorite food memory?
CB: My two favorite restaurants are BOA Steakhouse on Sunset Blvd and Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles; one of LA’s oldest and most popular Black-owned restaurant chains. When I have the time, I also enjoy cooking for myself. My favorite food memory is the time my mother taught me how to make my first batch of fried chicken. Nothing better than homemade fried chicken!
WB: What is your passion?
My main passion (if you can’t already tell) is cannabis. My other passion is taking care of people, especially the people I love. Getting to work with my family and friends at Ball Family Farms is truly a blessing and I’m thankful for it every day.
Ball Family Farms Founder Chris Ball On Social Equity And Pheno Hunting
Warren Bobrow Contributor
Chris Ball of Ball Family Farms
"Ball Family Farms" This is an excerpt from an email I received. Reprinting it is relevant because reading the words help paint a picture of passion in growing truly exceptional cannabis.
I recently read your article 'Cut & Dry Platinum Bubba Kush Aka: Play Charms My Palate' on Forbes and found it very insightful in regards to your explanation of effects, taste notes and Cut & Dry's approach to growing. Would you be interested in expanding on the subject of unique cultivars as they pertain to standing out in an oversaturated market? Did you know there’s only around twelve cultivars and their various hybrids based on terpene distinction and THC/CBD/CBG analysis in the modern market? Regardless of unique names, plant genetics in the industry are fairly homogeneous. Why? Most cultivators want to maximize profit by minimizing the time it takes to flip crops and cutting corners (like pheno-hunting) they think consumers won’t notice.
Chris Ball
Ball Family Farms Conversely, one minority owned grow (first vertically integrated Social Equity company in Los Angeles) is relying 100% on pheno-hunted genetics to set them apart from the crowd. And it is yielding them some of the most popular flower within their network of 30+ dispensaries. Pheno-hunting allows for cultivators to identify unique plant traits and create wholly unique cultivars. This process takes up to 6 months, then another 3 months to create a crop for commercial sale. This tedious process takes time and money, which most cultivators don’t see as essential for their business models. But according to the grow’s founder, a self-taught botanist, the final results after 9 months of pheno-hunting are just as valuable and unique as their nostalgic names: Daniel LaRusso, Miyagi-Do, Bonzai Tree, Bruce Leeroy and Laura Charles. Not only are the cultivars entirely unique to the brand, but they also consistently outperform similarly priced flower in lab tests and potency analysis.
Please enjoy this very cool, Five Questions piece on an intriguing entrepreneur who took the reins and said let’s be like a scientist and grow!
Michael, Chris, and Charles Ball NATHAN JAMES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHT TO NATHAN JAMES
Warren Bobrow=WB: Why cannabis? What is your history with the plant? Where are you from?
Chris Ball=CB: I was first introduced to cannabis when I was about 10 years old by my stepfather, Mr. Charles Ball. Cannabis was like cigarettes in my house. Growing up as a kid in Southern California, I used to watch my dad pull his tray out from underneath the couch after he was done eating, roll up and smoke his joint. My mom would pour her glass of wine and light up her cigarette. And that's how my parents relaxed after dinner. Cannabis was something that my uncle smoked, my auntie smoked, my grandma smoked. So, to me, it never really seemed to be something bad. But growing up in the eighties, I used to see those “Just Say No!” ad campaigns that Ronald Reagan was pushing. It was a little confusing to me. I’d go to school and they’d say, “Just say no, just say no!” Then I’d go home, and my dad would be smoking it, or I would go to family barbecues and my whole family would be smoking it. From my perspective cannabis didn’t really appear to be as drastic or wrong as the government led me to believe. When I turned 16, I was introduced to cannabis as a money-making mechanism. My younger cousin taught me the game and I soaked it up like a sponge. I was fascinated by him and I was fascinated by the money and how fast it came. Fast forward to eight years later, I did my first real big transaction and made five figures off one deal. After that, I was hooked. I became obsessed with not only the weed business, but the plant itself. I loved everything about it. The funny thing was I didn't smoke. I had tried it a couple of times, but it just wasn't for me. But I wanted to be the best possible salesman, so I studied the plant extensively.
This was about 2003 - from then on, the rest has been history.
WB: Please tell me about your company? What makes it better than your competitors? Did you go to B school? School of Hard Knocks? Where?
CB: Ball Family Farms is 100 percent family owned and black owned. We are vertically integrated and have one of the largest social equity footprints in Los Angeles that has successfully transitioned from the traditional market to the formal market.
Early on I knew the only way to scale the business was to find people who complimented my cultivation expertise and distribution network. And given the sensitive nature of the business, I knew I needed a talented but more importantly, a trustworthy team. So, I recruited my younger brother, Charles Ball, a retired baseball player with nearly a decade of corporate experience and then my cousin Michael Ball. Charles focuses on the daily business operations and development strategy and Michael helps manage facility operations and cultivation employees. Then as fate had it, we met Ebony J. McGee Andersen, CEO of ejma Planning + Development, just as the state geared up to issue temporary commercial cannabis licenses. Ebony was a compliance master and agreed to assist. Since then, she’s definitely become an honorary member of the Ball Family.
Chris Ball NATHAN JAMES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHT TO NATHAN JAMES
BFF is one of few cannabis companies that prioritizes equal pay, diversity and inclusion, and the empowerment of women in the workplace. As a tribute we embrace the motto and tagline, “Cultivating the Culture…from the Ground UP!”
Our flower and genetics are what set us apart from the competition. We take a lot of pride in what we do. We are here for the products, for our consumers and for the sport of being considered the best cultivators on the planet. We are true to the culture. We have over 25 years of combined experience in this field. We understand it. We come from it. We eat it. We live it. We breathe it. We’ve been incarcerated for it. We’ve sacrificed for it. We aren’t just here for the quick money; we are here to build generational wealth.
I graduated from The University of California Berkeley where I majored in Sociology and minored in Business. While I am highly-educated – I really learned my cannabis game from hustling in the traditional (or “black”) market. I was incarcerated in 2010, where I learned a couple valuable lessons about being federally investigated and indicted. I gained my experiences in business back in college and gained other experiences and knowledge from being in the street and doing things wrong.
I had to suffer the consequences for those mistakes, but in the end it made me a better businessman and person.
WB: Do you have a mentor? Indoor or outdoor grown? Living soil? Organic? Biodynamic? What is your six and twelve month goal? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing them?
CB: There are three mentors in my life who continue to support me in my journey. First, one of my best friends, Wilmer Valderrama. He's an actor and philanthropist. He’s a highly intelligent individual who mentors me on a daily basis. Second, would be another really close friend of mine, Kevin Hart. He mentors me about business and growing into your success. He’s taught me how to lead a large team of people and how to manage those people and expectations. Last but not least would be my boy, Al Harrington, the CEO of Viola. He's got so much more experience in the formal market, so he's been mentoring me on how to be a Cannabis CEO and what things to look out for in my transition. When it comes to cultivation techniques, I would say Indoor for sure. At Ball Family Farms we do a combination of living soil, organic and biodynamic cultivation in a proprietary process we’ve perfected over the years. My six-month goal is to be actively in fifty dispensaries in the Los Angeles area. We are currently in thirty-two dispensaries. My twelve-month goal is to be in one hundred dispensaries throughout the state of California and to own and operate our own delivery license so that we can go direct-to-consumer.
Our biggest obstacle has been the social equity program itself. It’s taken the city of Los Angeles a lot more time than expected to figure out how to get this process to work properly. It’s been a moving target for us operators to not only sustain our business, but to develop processes so we can be successful at it as well. In order to get past these obstacles, we are over preparing and being overly compliant, while making sure we continue cultivating some of the best flower on the market. As long as we do that, we can keep our business operating until the city figures this out. We can weather any storm being thrown our way, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
WB: What is your favorite restaurant? Where? Do you cook? Favorite food memory?
CB: My two favorite restaurants are BOA Steakhouse on Sunset Blvd and Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles; one of LA’s oldest and most popular Black-owned restaurant chains. When I have the time, I also enjoy cooking for myself. My favorite food memory is the time my mother taught me how to make my first batch of fried chicken. Nothing better than homemade fried chicken!
WB: What is your passion?
My main passion (if you can’t already tell) is cannabis. My other passion is taking care of people, especially the people I love. Getting to work with my family and friends at Ball Family Farms is truly a blessing and I’m thankful for it every day.
