By Geoffrey Taylor, MA
Hemp Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
If you haven’t seen the black Mercedes vans marked with a giant golden “X” navigating the streets of Kern County, you’ve missed out on seeing the first truly legal mobile cannabis delivery service, 420 Kingdom, in action. But there’s a whole lot more going on behind the scenes of Kern County’s hottest new legal-market cannabis cultivators and delivery service.
“420 Kingdom’s Cultivation approach is unique,” said McKenzie Swissholm, Director of Marketing for 420 Kingdom and Xtol Cultivation. “The key differentiator between us and illicit cannabis operations is our commitment to quality and safety. We have an obligation to only sell legal products that have been rigorously tested and approved for sale.”
As such, 420 Kingdom and Xtol Cultivation are a shining example of translating our regional agricultural heritage into a cutting edge horticultural operation utilizing top tier practices to ensure quality, consistency and access in a county often known as a dry zone for legal cannabis.
Though their current facility is less than 10,000 square feet of indoor cultivation space, they utilize this space with four dedicated rooms for flowering plants, a room where mother plants are grown for clone and tissue culture stock, a room dedicated solely to cloning that can contain up to 3000 immature plants and a room dedicated to vegetative growth with over 3000 plants. All indoor cultivation from Xtol is conducted using an aeroponic method that directly sprays nutrient rich water to the roots of plants within a sealed cultivation system.
“We knew that the Bakersfield area needed a reliable supplier of medical grade cannabis products,” said Swissholm. “Our mission is to provide a best-in-class customer experience through service, product variety, and cultivation of supreme quality aero-grown flower with unrivaled consistency.”
With a deep commitment to economic growth in the Arvin area as the cannabis industry continues to take shape, 420 Kingdom and Xtol Cultivation are determined to set a higher bar for an industry already bound by excessive regulation.
“We strive to be the most environmentally friendly we can,” said Kelly Steinback, VP of Cultivation for the Arvin cannabis operation. “ Our Aeroponic systems help us to achieve this by using around 90% less water than traditional cannabis cultivation. Growing high quality, clean cannabis is important to the ever-growing cannabis market.”
The operation is incredibly efficient and utilizes an organic integrated pest management system to provide the highest quality cured cannabis flower to consumers in the legal California market.
“Our standards go above the regulations to ensure we incorporate the high quality we want in our flower,” said Steinback. “420 Kingdom’s Cultivation approach is unique. While the company is extremely honored to be a part of the city of Arvin where the agriculture of this region is renowned, the area’s climate and seasonal attributes do not directly impact the cultivation process.”
According to Steinback, the cultivation operation will operate a state of the art Aessence Aeroponics system for superior plant growth and quality in a sealed and climate controlled environment. Though currently at around 10,000 square feet, the facility will reach nearly 100,000 square feet upon project completion.
While all commercial cannabis activity in the medical and recreational markets are currently outlawed in both the County of Kern and City of Bakersfield, 420 Kingdom and Xtol Cultivation are uniquely positioned to become the largest cannabis producer in the valley regions of Kern County. As such, they provide a unique service to an area that lacks a robust cannabis industry presence despite the agricultural heritage of the region.
“Our vision is to be an industry leader with emphasis on health and wellness education, while providing local opportunity and becoming a community pillar through partnership and philanthropy,” said Swissholm. “With dispensary locations within the city of Bakersfield being shut down, 420 Kingdom has worked with local authorities to provide safe, consistent and legally regulated products to consumers.”
Whether you support cannabis or you abhor it, the industry is set to grow exponentially as increased legal enforcement on illicit operators continues to expand. While illicit dispensaries, cultivators and extract operations continue to create negative headlines across the state, 420 Kingdom stands firm in their commitment to creating an environment of advocacy and education to steer more headlines toward a positive light.
“Cannabis production has some of the most stringent requirements, every licensed supplier is required to utilize good production and sanitary practices,” said Swissholm. “From day one, 420 Kingdom has always worked closely with the community’s most influential voices to educate and connect on as many platforms as possible. Working with local news stations, podcasts, community magazines, various news print sources and local social media influencers has allowed the company to reach an audience that goes beyond the established cannabis community.”
As the story of 420 Kingdom continues to write itself, the organization has shown they are prepared to seize the opportunity as Kern County’s first cannabis trailblazers, forging forward with a commitment to safe and clean practices, consumer safety, environmental stewardship and most importantly, cannabis industry leadership.
