West Coast Cannabis Growers Feeling the Heat from Wildfires

East Fork Cultivars Photo CNN Business California wildfiresWhile many cannabis industry pioneers may have benefited from getting in early on a fast-growing, multibillion-dollar industry on the West Coast, the recent wildfires underscore the unique hurdles that these businesses encounter in trying to survive.

For operators who lost everything to the deadly wildfires, there’s little recourse and only the shakiest of safety nets. Insurance companies, like banks, are reluctant to serve cannabis businesses because cannabis remains a federally illegal substance. And because of that illicit status, the enterprises don’t qualify for federal disaster aid.

Advertisement

And even for operators whose cannabis businesses and plants were spared, the wildfires still present a mess of potential issues such as smoke damage, contamination, smaller buds, stressed out plants, and end products that might not pass regulatory or consumer muster.

“We work all year for this period of time, when we’re working around the clock to bring in a successful harvest,” says Nathan Howard, Co-founder and President of East Fork Cultivars, which specializes in breeding and growing CBD-rich, adult-use cannabis and hemp. “Most of our success in 2021 is determined by how successful we are during these six weeks, the end of September and October.”

Read more at CNNBusiness.com.

Top Articles
Why This Hydrangea From Green Fuse Botanicals Is a Gamechanger (Video)

0