Shifting geographies of legal cannabis production in California

Dillis, Christopher; Biber, Eric; Bodwitch, Hekia; Butsic, Van; Carah, Jennifer; Parker‐Shames, Phoebe; Polson, Michael; Grantham, Theodore E.

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105369

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Yet, now she sees legalization as a liability for smaller farmers like herself. GIS and license data confirm Sabrina's impression, showing that individuals operating smaller farms are less likely to have applied for state licenses (Butsic et al, 2018;Dillis et al, 2021). Although she supports regulation for the purpose of environmental conservation (as most respondents to our statewide survey did), she sees stringent, expensive regulations as furthering small farmer exclusion and uprooting historically accumulated knowledges and relationships between cannabis farmers and the land they tend.…”

Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Qualitative survey responses revealed that farmers interpret regulatory stringency and high costs as proof of anticannabis bias and governmental discrimination against marginalized actors, thus dissuading farmers from involvement in policy decisions or regulatory participation. Many farmers regarded state allowances for "stacking" of multiple permits into one firm (Dillis et al, 2021), as a predictable effort to consolidate cannabis agriculture into the hands of a few.…”

Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As legal market competition increases, those costs will be reduced toward that cost of production (along with whatever universal regulatory costs are required). Downward price pressure will gravitate toward consolidation, technological incorporation, and the externalization of labor and environmental costs (Dillis et al, 2021). An allotment-pricing program, however, could arrest this slide in prices, keep smaller farms viable, bolster equity, prevent indebtedness, protect producer communities, and protect workers and ecologies.…”

Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prohibited commoning

Polson

Bodwitch

2021

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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Oddly, criminal prohibition can lead to “commoning,” when individuals, left unprotected by state and formal property rights, innovate collective systems to access, use, and benefit from illegalized resources. “Legalization” entails the conversion of these prohibited commons to legal property systems, bringing new freedoms and liberties as well as the dispossession of collectively generated assets (material, relational, and otherwise). This paradox of legalization is currently playing out among U.S. states moving to legalize cannabis. Motivated by the failures of cannabis prohibition and its grievous harms, the question looms: How will states and markets grapple with the collectively generated assets and relational systems generated under prohibition? Building from ethnographic research and survey data, this article argues for recognition of the commoning practices that produced the resources upon which the legal market is based. These practices illuminate ways that legalization may deliver not only markets and regulation but also emancipatory justice in the wake of the War on Drugs. First, we document the commoning practices of cannabis cultivators, the collective benefits they generated under prohibition, and how legalization is affecting these practices and dynamics. Second, we explore strategies, like allotment and pricing systems, that build from prohibited commoning practices to achieve greater collective benefits and the emancipatory potential of legalization.

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Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Legalization To Emancipationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prohibited commoning

Polson

Bodwitch

2021

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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“…However, private‐land production is quickly becoming a dominant source of cannabis in the western United States while illegal public‐land production in the region either appears to be declining (Klassen & Anthony, 2019), shifting, or possibly increasing in some areas with increased enforcement (Wengert et al, 2021). Private‐land cannabis cultivation appears to generally follow one of two development trajectories (Dillis et al, 2021). The first pathway consists of many, smaller farms in rural areas with a history of illicit or medical cultivation (i.e., “the legacy pathway”).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note that although the legacy pathway is characterized by historical growing practices, this form of production can also expand with emerging development frontiers. Research on these development trajectories in California suggests that, although both trajectories are expanding, the legacy pathway may require policy intervention if it is to fully transition to, and persist in, the legal industry (Bodwitch et al, 2019; Dillis et al, 2021). Proponents often argue that smaller scale styles of farming are more sustainable (Bodwitch et al, 2019), sometimes drawing parallels to industries such as craft vineyards (e.g., Hilty & Merenlender, 2004; Kremen & Merenlender, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial overlap of small‐scale cannabis farms with aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity

Parker‐Shames

Choi

Butsic

et al. 2021

Conservat Sci and Prac

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The rapid expansion of cannabis agriculture in the Western United States provides a rare opportunity to study how an abrupt change in land‐use policy affects local biodiversity. There is broad speculation that cannabis production on private land is expanding and having negative effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, yet there exist little empirical data to evaluate this concern. In this study, we mapped and characterized outdoor cannabis production during the first season of legal recreational production (2016) in a large legacy cannabis‐producing region of Southern Oregon, Josephine County. We descriptively compared cannabis farms to all available private parcels based on proximity to rivers/streams and undeveloped land and their overlap with carnivore richness. Using publicly available satellite imagery, we found approximately 1.34 km2 (331 acres) of cannabis cultivation within Josephine County during the first season of legal recreational production. Most cannabis production areas were small (median size 414 m2), spatially clustered at all observed scales, and recently established (67% were not visible in 2013–2014 pre‐legalization). When compared with all available private parcels, cannabis was preferentially located in forested areas, undeveloped land and slightly closer to rivers. Within riparian areas, farms were slightly closer to rivers with predicted occurrence of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). While projected carnivore richness was similar between cannabis and all private parcels, projected fisher (Pekania pennanti) occupancy was more than five times higher on cannabis farms, with a median occupancy of 0.69 (interquartile range: 0.24–0.87). Our results establish a baseline for cannabis land cover at the time of early recreational legalization and rapid expansion and can be used to predict future patterns or ecological consequences of cannabis development in other production areas. Understanding the potential ecological impact of cannabis is increasingly important as legalization expands and may also offer insights into other rural land‐use change frontiers.

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The threat of wildfire is unique to cannabis among agricultural sectors in California

et al. 2022

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At the intersection of climate change and rural development, wildfire has emerged as a threat to agriculture in the Western United States. This nexus is particularly problematic for the rapidly developing cannabis industry in California, which includes farms located outside of traditional agricultural zones and within landscapes potentially more prone to wildfire. With the goal of determining whether cannabis is uniquely vulnerable to direct wildfire impacts (in terms of crop loss to burning), we integrated fire hazard severity zone (FHSZ) data, wildfire perimeters, and future burn regime projections in relation to the location and cultivated area of cannabis farming. We then applied descriptive statistics and generalized additive models (GAMs) to compare the location of licensed cannabis farms to other agricultural types in California, including grapes, pasture, and all other general crops combined.We found cannabis farming was located more often in high and very high FHSZs and closer to wildfire perimeters than any other agricultural type.GAM estimates of likelihood of occurrence in high and very high severity zones were highest for cannabis, even after accounting for spatial clustering of farm types, although there was no reliable difference in predicted distances to wildfire. Cannabis more often occurred in projected (from 2020 to 2100) wildfire hotspots than all other agricultural types, with GAM estimates affirming a reliably higher likelihood of cannabis in future hotspots than pasture or general crops. Our findings highlight cannabis' particular vulnerability to wildfire in California and may in fact underestimate wildfire risks given the potential indirect impacts of smoke to crops and farmworkers, which were not evaluated in this study. In light of the sector's growing economic importance in the state, these vulnerabilities should be considered in future cannabis and rural development policies.

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Shifting geographies of legal cannabis production in California

Cited by 16 publications

References 25 publications

Prohibited commoning

Prohibited commoning

The spatial overlap of small‐scale cannabis farms with aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity

The threat of wildfire is unique to cannabis among agricultural sectors in California

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