Farmers encounter significant barriers to licensing, leading many to decide to never seek a license. These barriers significantly impact smaller farmers or those with fewer resources. This can Intensify industrial consolidation.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/cannabis-farm-compliance-motivations-and-barriers-in-california/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Bodwitch 2021[/button]
California cannabis growers characterized legalization as harmful to their businesses and communities. They describe a process that excludes small growers, contributes to an increase in black market sales, and undermines economies of rural communities.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/california-cannabis-legalization-grower-survey/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Bodwitch et al. 2019[/button]
Larger farms are more likely to apply for permits. Permitted cannabis farms tend to be larger, newer, and sited in areas with lower slopes and stream densities. In the years prior to legalization farm size expanded significantly in Humboldt County.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/cannabis-cultivation-permits-legalization-farm-characteristics-trends/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Schwab et al. 2019[/button]
Cannabis bans and “enforcement first” approaches undermine regulatory goals and deepen disparities. Re-criminalizing cannabis cultivation undermines state-level policies and programs that promote social equity and protect the environment.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/cannabis-farmers-or-criminals-enforcement-first-approaches-fuel-disparity-and-hinder-regulation/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Polson and Petersen-Rockney 2019[/button]
Legalization of cannabis production can paradoxically disrupt supportive, collective systems of cultivation that formed during prohibition. Policies that recognize and build from “commoning” practices can help sustain collective benefits.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/prohibited-commoning/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Polson and Bodwitch 2021[/button]
Increases in California’s budget for cannabis regulatory programs appear inadequate relative to the pressures of cannabis agriculture on the environment.
[button link=”https://crc.berkeley.edu/publication/cannabis-agriculture-frontier-environmental-threat-policy/” class=”dmach-acf-value et_pb_button”]Butsic et al. 2018[/button]
