Some cannabis farmers chose to stay on their farms, in some cases defying evacuation orders, to try and save crops from fire using methods like watering down the plants. One of those farmers was Ms. Peterson’s father, a retired firefighter.
After surviving previous wildfire seasons, other marijuana farms have diversified into additional crops, or focused on growing inside (as the majority of Colorado’s cannabis farms do). But even indoor grows are not immune to wildfire damage.
Ms. Hollingsworth doesn’t yet know the impact of the smoke on her crops, which are grown in climate-controlled greenhouses, but “they’re not perking up as much as they usually do,” she said. Right now, she is most worried about the sky. “Sun rays, they can’t filter through the smoke,” she said. “And we really rely on the greatest resource that the planet has ever known, which is the sun, for us to grow.”
Still, Ms. Hollingsworth has no plans of giving up on her family business. Last year, she and her brother were featured on the cover of Cannabis Business Times, and they appeared on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown.” “I hope that we can continue on this pathway of growing sustainable cannabis and showing people that it can be done,” she said.
Ms. Peterson’s family plans to rebuild their house with wildfire considerations, including steel, solar panels and no windows facing the forest. “We’re going to keep going,” she said. “I want to raise my kids on my family property. That would be the dream, to continue the farmstead on to the next generation.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/style/cannabis-farms-wildfires-weed.html
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