Extremely compelling arguments delivered- ha ha- for expanding cannabis cultivation canopy in Santa Cruz County for the SU (special use) & TP (timber production) zones…

In all seriousness, it’s kind of insane that I could grow unlimited amounts of hemp (10+ acres) – same exact plant with the exact same environmental requirements – on my property, but for cannabis with THC, I am limited to just 10,000 sq ft (less than 1/4 acre) of canopy. BTW – I got a hemp cultivation license a few years ago to grow 1 acre of CBD hemp, & the process took less than 48 hours through our Ag Department, with no CEQA, Fish & Wildlife, commercial fire, ADA upgrades, etc. For 10,000 sq ft of cannabis, I am 8 years into the process, & still working on finalizing my licenses. It’s kind of insane.

GOOD NEWS – our Board of Supervisors did vote to continue working with our Cannabis Licensing Department to amend our Cannabis Ordinance to allow for canopy expansion… so hope we will be able to have some more space to do our work.

For our farm, we are not interested in growing more production cannabis for our tinctures, but the extra space would allow us to do more research & development work, breeding test runs, etc. So we can do more cannabis genetics innovation & preservation projects, the really exciting fun stuff! It’s really hard right now to do breeding, & test runs of new varieties, along with production, all crammed into one 10,000 sq ft space.

Hope our Board of Supervisors will continue to see the value of allowing us more space to do our work – especially when we have had absolutely zero complaints about our farm from neighbors or anyone in the community.

ALSO – expanding our canopy area for our Cannabis Landrace Botanical Garden will allow us to grow a more diverse garden for tourists to experience, but we also need our County to approve onsite consumption & retail at farms that are appropriately set up for hosting tours.

It’s a lot of work, but our County is finally taking some positive steps towards policies that will allow our cannabis businesses to innovate, create tourist experiences, & thrive!

Thanks to everyone working on these positive changes for Santa Cruz!

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