Marijuana Crop Is Burning in the California Wildfires

[yuiyoshida]

By DANIEL VICTOR and MAYA SALAM
OCTOBER 13, 2017
Fatal fires that have consumed nearly 200,000 acres in Northern California, devastating the region’s vineyards particularly in Napa and Sonoma Counties, are also taking a toll on a fledgling industry just months before its debut: recreational marijuana.

Many of the region’s farms, including those that harvest cannabis, have been scorched, including those in Sonoma County and in Mendocino County, the center of California’s marijuana industry. Mendocino is one of three California counties that comprise Emerald Triangle, where much of the United States’ marijuana is produced.

Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the California Growers Association, said Thursday that at least seven farms had been destroyed, and that he expected the number to “increase significantly” as people returned to their homes. Tens of thousands of cannabis growers live in Northern California.

The owners of the seven farms include small-scale growers who put their life savings into their farms over the past year, he said. None of them have insurance, he said.

“They leveraged themselves entirely,” Mr. Allen said. “It’s going to hit some families really hard.”

more...
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/us/california-fires-marijuana.html

I know the jokes will be coming about how everyone there is getting high off the smoke...and firemen high and lost in the woods, but dude, this is some serious fire and we NEED the weed!

[CentralMass]

1. Bummer.

[BigmanPigman]

2. They also aren't allowed to get insurance since it is tied up

with Federal BS rules so they are taking a 100% loss. That IS fucked up.

[lunasun]

3. That is fucked up I did not know that

[BigmanPigman]

4. I didn't either until someone posted it on DU last week.

[yuiyoshida]

5. It wouldn't surprise me to find out

that this was arson, just so they could jack up the price of weed.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Are you kidding? There are so many people trying to sell their

crops from all over this large state there will likely be little if any impact. I was at a dispensary one day and three different sellers came by with their business cards asking to speak with the management and this was all within 1/2 hour. Our state is huge and the fires effected only a small part of it.

[yuiyoshida]

7. well I have heard that California has more weed

than it knows what to do with, but when it goes to stores as Recreational weed, maybe the price will be decent. Right now, its still pretty expensive. I spent $300 on a jar of weed, that is about the size of a skippy peanut butter jar.

That will last me a month if I use my pipe. If I use my vape, it will last far longer.

[BigmanPigman]

8. I don't know what the prices are in the bay area

but these are the prices from the most popular dispensaries in San Diego. You do get what you pay for in this business anyway. The prices are more if you buy it legally than if you get it illegally of course. They do have happy hour specials and they also give 10% discounts if you show them that you are receiving disability for health issues. Here are menus for the two most popular ones in San Diego.
https://weedmaps.com/dispensaries/green-hope-delivery-mission-valley-2#/menu
https://weedmaps.com/dispensaries/urbn-leaf

[John Oneil]

9. global weed production will most likely close the gap

Hi everybody,

I wouldn't bother that much about those farms, they will restart production indoor and produce huge quantities quite fast if they see the asks skyrocketing. And if they don't, global weed production will close the gap and within six months this issue will be forgotten.

Besides, they make enough money to cope with this kind of issues. Maybe some new farmers will suffer from that but that shouldn't become a national tragedy.

I find much more disturbing the amount of wildlife destroyed by this fire.

Cheers,