California Pot Farms

by | Oct 15, 2017 | CBS Radio Report


California Pot FarmsMore than a dozen wildfires are burning across California and one of the state’s biggest crops is going up in smoke. It’s not just the vineyards in the bay area that are being destroyed by fast moving flames it’s also marijuana. Right now California produces over half of the marijuana consumed in the country, with legal cannabis sales expected to hit $5 billion in the next few years. The California Growers Association says when the fires began members helped people evacuate and escape the flames. Now as they wait to get back to their homes and businesses they’re expecting the damage to be extensive. According to a 2016 report between 3 and 9,000 cannabis farmers work in Sonoma county where the fires hit hard and dozens of people are still missing. Exact revenue from the marijuana in this area isn’t known but estimates put it at hundreds of million dollars a year. In 2015 the state was also hit with a number of wildfires that burned hundreds of pot farms, costing the industry millions of dollars. And it looks like history will repeat itself.

Brian Banmiller

About Brian

CBS News Radio national business journalist Brian Banmiller has spent more than 40 years in the news industry, covering business, politics and the economy on television, radio and in print. Currently, his “Banmiller on Business” reports are delivered to an audience of millions nationwide.

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