Tehama California County ideal for outdoor grows

Editorial
Source: redbluffdailynews.com

Tehama County should move toward licensing the production and distribution of sun-grown cannabis.

The county’s climate, with its long summer days and dry conditions from May to October, is especially well-suited for outdoor cultivation, as hundreds of area growers know.

When the county banned outdoor cultivation, of course it didn’t disappear; it just became impossible to regulate other than through scattershot eradication. That’s money down the drain: the county receives no revenue from any local cannabis activity, vainly hoping instead to fund its efforts through fines and forfeitures.

This is a cynical strategy that may appeal to those most concerned about cannabis, but it will ultimately fail to keep our families and children safe, and fail to help us prosper.

So, what should we do instead?

First, let the county’s citizens grow the six plants per parcel guaranteed under Prop. 64 under the sun, out of public view. The bright lights and climate controls of indoor cultivation are extremely energy intensive, using as much electricity as 29 refrigerators to grow just four plants, and creating an environmental impact 370 times greater than sun-grown cannabis. This means that indoor growing, besides being environmentally destructive, is prohibitively expensive for many people wanting to exercise their personal cultivation rights.

Second, develop paths to local licensure. Some localities have tried to milk the cannabis cash cow by inviting mega-warehouse grows to come in, but warehouse growing won’t be Tehama’s strength — witness Redding’s Stillwater Business Park’s failure against more urban warehouse districts.

The area’s strength is its sunshine: Redding’s the second-sunniest city in the entire country, according to the NOAA. Our best hopes in the cannabis industry are those that take advantage of this resource — boutique, tourism-based production in foothill microclimates; larger, more mechanized ag operations for bulk flower oil in the valley; processing facilities to add value to those products; and hemp for fiber and seed oil.

It’s likely that tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cannabis is already being produced annually in Tehama County, placing it firmly among our top ag revenue generators — prunes, cattle, olives, almonds and walnuts. Let’s grow this industry in a responsible way, increase public safety by minimizing local incentives for black market participation and promote economic development, both in our rural areas and in our towns.

— Matthew Meyer, Manton