Up In Smoke: Wildfires Scorch California Pot Crop At Harvest

GLEN ELLEN, Calif. (AP) – The same wildfires that destroyed Northern California wineries also took a toll on the region’s marijuana farms. Growers were about to begin an important harvest less than three months before the nation’s largest recreational pot market opens for business in January. An industry group says at least 31 marijuana farms were destroyed and many more damaged. That number is expected to rise once farmers are allowed back to their property. Unlike wineries, pot farmers do not have crop insurance. Because the plant is still listed as an illegal drug under federal law, financial institutions stay out of the industry. The damage is expected to have little impact on the state’s overall marijuana economy because thousands of growers were unaffected, especially in the three-county region known as the Emerald Triangle.

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