Big Canna, Little Carp

By Naked Mary Jane

We have five years of full-blown cannabis legalization under our belt here in Carpinteria. And oh my! How it has changed our little bit of paradise. Our town delighted in a prominent cut flower industry just a few short years ago. Our green valley grew many more acres of avocado and citrus, with a smattering of hoop houses growing flowers, lettuce, and orchids. The arrival of our new cash cow industry changed that. Now, as I hike up the mountain trails and look down on our small valley, I see the significant changes cannabis has made to our landscape. The reflection of acres of added greenhouses that cover our agricultural land is blinding. I wonder when the greenhouses will merge with the sea and become one mass of silver-blue as the sun magnifies the reflection of stainless steel, glass, and plastic.

My family farmed the lower hills and valleys of Carpinteria and Ojai–avocados, lemons, walnuts, apricots, and plums. The scenery was green, the air smelled of soil and sage. Strawberries were sweet to the taste, and avocados were dense and buttery with their oil. Locally grown produce was sold in our grocery store. Traditional practices like dry farming and outdoor cultivation were the norm. Greenhouses in our valley were few. So the arrival of Big Cannabis Industrialization to Carpinteria is not the change I had envisioned when I cast my vote to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2016. Turns out, it’s nothing like my little brother’s grow from the seventies.

What is Big Canna? Companies like Cresco Labs (publicly traded CRLBF: OTC US), Glass House Farms (publicly traded, OTC: GLASF), and Calyx Peak Companies (a giant MSO- multi-state operator) are just a few of these operating in the Carpinteria Valley. These companies are not headquartered in California, and only one has its corporate offices in the United States. These are multistate, multi-national cannabis companies growing marijuana right here in our valley, using our resources to dominate the industry. These big canna companies partnered with some of Carpinteria’s most prominent family flower growers to convert existing agricultural operations to marijuana crops a few years ago. This created a massive financial foothold for Big Canna to play in our small valley. It gave way to the birth of Carpinteria’s new Cannabis Industrial Complex, edging out smaller farmers. According to Leafly, one of the cannabis industry’s leading news sources, marijuana has become the 5th largest cash crop in the United States, worth an annual production of 6.175 billion dollars (Leafly Report: Cannabis Fifth Largest U.S. Crop, 11-4-21). This puts the crop ahead of cotton and peanuts, and only corn, soybeans, hay, and wheat top cannabis’s cash crop numbers. In other words, this industry is a cash cow for cannabis companies who do business here in our valley with large-scale agribusiness eclipsing small farm businesses.

I did not vote for some major corporations with Canadian exchange-backed budgets to take over our farm community. I voted for the wellness solutions the plant has to offer all of us. I voted for a new, legal industry in Carpinteria that would embrace new businesses in our ag community. And I had hoped that these newly formed enterprises would be led by local, diverse groups of people traditionally left behind in our economic growth; in particular marginalized farmworkers and their families who made Carpinteria a productive revenue-producing town. And the local women who lack a competitive advantage in our traditional, white male-owned farm operations. I voted to legalize the plant so that small family farms could grow and sell their specialty craft cannabis products to our nearby communities. I wanted to see organically built generational wealth develop from this industry for our Carpinteria families, who lacked the financial resources to participate in owning and farming our land—not wealth created by past industries that excluded minorities and women in leadership positions and who were subsequently bailed out by Big Canna to hold on to their wealth.

It is true that our local and state governments failed us by over-regulating and taxing the cannabis industry. These regulations did not support the “small” cannabis businesses that should be the backbone of local economies, just as the cut flower businesses were (and those that have survived still are). Now, hundreds of thousands of dollars are needed to start a licensed cannabis company in Carpinteria, much of which must be an indoor operation. It’s less expensive to cultivate cannabis outdoors with a good climate like ours than in most other markets around the State.

We don’t need more indoor cannabis grows. We need to be lighter on our soil. Our charming town, productive valley, and coastal mountains can’t bear any more concrete and steel. Besides, that’s not the industry we voted for back in 2016. The passion for the marijuana flower that exists in this industry—for the plant, its healing potential, and righting the wrongs of past social unfairness is what we voted for. So beware of Big Canna in Little Carpinteria. And remember the past, when our farmers had a personal connection with the plant, the soil, the sun, and the collective environment. Everything smelled better, looked better and tasted better. Happy Trails!

Editor’s note: Naked Mary Jane a pseudonym. The author has requested anonymity, which was granted after proper vetting.