California Growers Association are Contesting the Growing Regulations of the State

Small-scale cannabis farmers in California are going to challenge the regulations put in place by the state regulators, favoring the big players of the industry. They suffered a setback when these regulation were made public last year, putting no limit on the area of cultivation used by a single farmer. This stipulation raised the fear among the small farmers that big marijuana organizations would convert large cultivation area of the state into cannabis farms, pushing small time farmers out of the legalized market.   

The state’s Growers Association is now contesting this clause in the courts, calling for placing the cap of one acre for every single farming entity. On Jan 24, the association representing around 1,000 marijuana growers and ventures in different communities of California filed a case against the state’s Department of Food & Agriculture in a Superior Court.   

The Growers Association is using a provision from Proposition 64 to build their case. Proposition 64 is an initiative for adult-use legalization and it clearly states that the industry will be established around small and medium-scale ventures. 

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The proposition which is formally called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act categorically mentions that the small businesses will be shielded through a five-year transition time where growing license for large-scale cultivation won’t be issued.  

But the group of small farmers has identified a glitch in the rule where a single entity can get multiple growing licenses to have a farming site larger than the allowed limit. Even though the regulations have a limit of issuing one-acre cultivation license per entity, but simultaneously allowing multiple smaller farming plots negates this cap. 

Hezekiah Allen, the director of the association, stated that the regulators defied the objective of the rule. Therefore, they challenge the provision of issuing multiple small growing licenses to the entities that have already scored the license for one acre cultivation site.   

The association went to the court after exhausting their options to negotiate with the regulators and governor’s office, which bore no fruit. The director has also made it clear that overall they are satisfied with the regulator’s job but this change has to be made because of its significant implications.

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The demon of “corporate marijuana” was also a reason why Proposition 19, the legalization initiative of 2010, didn’t get materialized. The critics of Proposition 64 also pointed towards the same issue. For instance, late Dennis Peron, one of the California’s biggest marijuana activists also raised the same concerns.   

It’s a challenge for the concerned authorities to make sure that small farmers don’t have to suffer from the large-scale commercialization of the product. California Growers Association has taken the right step in the right time to protect the rights of the individuals who have already gone through the torment of cannabis persecution.  

If they get succeeded in moving the regulators to amend the rule, then it will be a big favor to the farmers of the heartland.

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