Weed to Feed the People.
Much has been said about marijuana prohibition. More needs to be said. The end of the unjust and inherently racist prohibition is long overdue.
But looking beyond the glaring injustice for a moment, the legal marijuana industry has the potential to save local farms and repair a broken food system.
Please let me explain.
Let me begin with a truism: healthy food systems are necessary for human health. Unlike any other industry, food production is an absolute existential imperative. In other words, without food, we die.
Without healthy food, we get sick then die.
Many people fear the extraordinary and sensational, like terrorism or school shootings. While these events are beyond horrific, they are exceedingly rare.
Meanwhile, cancer and heart disease are far and away the most common causes of death in the United States. More and more research shows these diseases are related to nutrition and lifestyle.
When it comes to nutrition, there is little consensus in the scientific or medical communities. But it is almost universally accepted that we should eat more fresh vegetables and cleaner meat.
Meanwhile, it is difficult for many Americans to access fresh food, and the predominant conventional food systems produce unhealthy food, along with harmful environmental pollution, and excessive CO2.
And posterity will judge us harshly for the way we treat animals to provide our meat.
Without arguing the points here, I take it as given that small, local farms produce more healthy food and preserve natural resources with less environmental pollution better than global, large-scale, petrochemical-dependent farms.
It is also easier for small farms to raise animals using more ethical practices, which do not cause undue suffering.
And, though often overlooked, it is important that farms are close to consumers. Proximity to farms means more efficient distribution, accountability, biodiversity, culture, education, conservation, and food security.
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult for small farms to remain profitable when competing in a national market dominated by Big Ag. This is a simple truism (with beautiful exceptions).
The emerging CANNBIS industry presents one possible solution for our broken food system.
In November of 2018, Concordia University School of Law Professor, Ryan Stoa, published “Craft Weed: Family Farming and the Future of the Marijuana Industry.”
Stoa writes (pp189–190):
[M]arijuana agriculture may present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spark the rebirth of the American family farm.”
Stoa goes on to ask,
What if billions of dollars of consumer spending is channeled to small-scale, diversified, local organic family farms? The marijuana industry has more than enough capital to lead an agrarian renaissance, so why not take advantage?
Indeed, why not? The infrastructure and technical expertise overlap perfectly.
In November 2016, the citizens of Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational marijuana. The Massachusetts regulations allow for farmers to legally grow marijuana in greenhouses and outdoors like any other crop (well, with enormous restrictions and hurdles).
According to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (“MDAR”), there are 7,755 farms in Massachusetts working on over 523,000 acres to produce $492 million in agricultural products. (Mass.gov: Agricultural Resources Facts and Statistics (Statistics on agriculture in Massachusetts).)
The Massachusetts marijuana regulations require that an applicant for a marijuana establishment license present a plan to “positively impact the community.”
By 2025, it is likely that the total market for legal marijuana retail sales in Massachusetts will be somewhere between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion.
The average farm in Massachusetts is struggling to produce $63,470 per year on 68 acres. A relatively small piece of land (regulatory maximum of 100,000 sq ft, or 2.3 acres) on an existing Massachusetts farm could increase revenue by 20x.
Massachusetts consumers already support local farms. According to MDAR, at nearly $48 million, Massachusetts ranks 5th in the nation for direct market sales and 3rd in the nation for direct market sales per operation.
The emerging Massachusetts marijuana industry presents a unique opportunity that could become a model for the rest of the Northeast and the U.S.
Let’s not miss it.
