Teach What You Know.
Let Others Grow.
The Mendo Cup didn’t come from a business plan. It came from a community that has been growing, fighting, and refusing to disappear for more than half a century — and from two people who refused to let it be forgotten.
In the uppermost reaches of Northern California, where Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties converge, something got started in the 1960s and 1970s that the rest of the world is still trying to catch up to.
A generation of city-dwellers — disillusioned by modern industry and the machinery of capitalism — made their way into the hills and valleys of what would eventually be called the Emerald Triangle. They came for what became known as the back-to-the-land movement: autonomy, self-sufficiency, farming, and a simpler way of life. It didn’t take long for cannabis to emerge as a cash crop. And it didn’t take long for the rest of the world to want what they were growing.
The Emerald Triangle and its farmers spent the next four and a half decades doing their darndest to keep up with worldwide demand for the full-sun flowers being cultivated in these counties. That high demand was not lost on law enforcement. In 1983, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting — CAMP — was launched. The military-style operation terrorized the hills and valleys of the region for years, even coining the term “Emerald Triangle” in 1985 to define its seek-and-destroy area of operations.
The farmers adapted. They kept growing. The rest of the world kept driving the dirt roads to deal with them. But their contribution to cannabis culture runs much deeper than commerce. Their stories, their methods, their unique libraries of plant genetics, their generational knowledge, and their role as stewards of the land — all of it weaves the fabric of what cannabis culture is. And all of it is at risk of being lost.
Mendocino County has become a microcosm of everything the Emerald Triangle is fighting. The statistics are not abstract. They are people, and farms, and generational knowledge walking out the door.
Decrease in licensed cannabis canopy in Mendocino County since the county’s peak in 2021. At the start of 2026, 3,592,000 sq. ft. of licensed canopy remained. In total, Mendocino County has lost 461 licenses — more than Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Riverside, and 18 other California counties combined.
The pressures are familiar to anyone paying attention: overregulation, overtaxation, high compliance costs, falling wholesale prices, and intensifying competition from large-scale operators and the illicit market. What was once a decentralized, community-driven economy has been forced into a tightly regulated commercial model that many small farmers simply cannot survive.
Among those who felt these pressures were Swami Chaitanya and Nikki Lastreto of Swami Select — one of California’s most respected and beloved cannabis brands, based in Laytonville. In 2024, they made the hard choice to let their cultivation license lapse. What they did not do was step away from the mission.
In 2025, Nikki produced the 1st Annual Mendo Cup — a friendly competition challenging Mendocino County’s remaining licensed sungrown farmers to submit an anonymous sample of their finest flower. Each judge received their own kit — a sample of every entry — and spent weeks evaluating blind, in their own time and setting, taking careful notes. Then they came together for a full day in Willits to share findings, debate the merits, and arrive at a final ranking. Five were crowned. A sold-out crowd of 400 came to celebrate. And when the books were closed, the Cup had generated $5,410 in profit — every cent of which was distributed back to the farmers who entered. Something that had been missing from this community for a long time was suddenly, stubbornly, back.
The Torch Is Passed
For the 2nd Annual Mendo Cup, Nikki Lastreto passed the torch to a new producer: Leah Cerri, who assembled a dedicated team of volunteers and set about trying to catch lightning in a Ball jar a second time. They expanded the judging period. They secured retail partners for the winners across California. They brought 27 farms into the competition — each one a licensed small farm still fighting to hold its ground.
On May 3rd, 2026, another sold-out crowd packed the Willits Grange. Six awards were given. Twenty-seven farms had their results. A two-year-old tradition proved it had legs.
The committee changes from year to year, as it should. What doesn’t change is the mission: preserve and celebrate Mendocino culture and history. Connect the cultivators who represent this region with the retailers and consumers who most appreciate where their cannabis comes from — and what it took to grow it.
The Humans Behind the Cup
Three names. Three chapters. One unbroken thread of commitment to the plant, the farmers, and the community that grew up around both.
The next generation, in full bloom. Leah took the torch from Nikki and ran with it — assembling a dedicated team of volunteers, expanding the competition, securing retail partnerships, and delivering a 2026 Mendo Cup that made the inaugural event look like a dress rehearsal.
The woman who lit the flame. In 2025, Nikki produced the inaugural Mendo Cup — a sold-out celebration that proved the community still existed, still cared, and still showed up when given a reason. When Year Two arrived, she passed the torch with grace and confidence.
A decades-long advocate for the cannabis plant and the culture at her roots. Swami and his partner Nikki built one of California’s most respected cannabis brands from a small licensed farm in Laytonville, Mendocino County — and helped inspire the Mendo Cup long before it had a name.
Great Cannabis Is Still Being Grown Out Here.
The Mendo Cup exists to make sure the people growing it get the recognition — and the retail relationships — they’ve earned. Stories and culture don’t appeal to every consumer. But great weed does. And plenty of great weed is still being grown under the full sun in Mendocino County.