Arcata Dave asks No on A — Humboldt County Growers Alliance…

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Rationale for harm?

  1. Why do you think Measure A will harm small farmers? Who are the experts who support your position?

— Arcata Dave

Response

No on A — Humboldt County Growers Alliance

Thank you for the question. Measure A is essentially a comprehensive rewrite of Humboldt’s cannabis ordinances, and that rewrite only moves in one direction: making things harder for local permitted farmers of any size who are operating in compliance with state and county regulations.

At the same time, Measure A will do nothing to restrict industrial-scale corporate farms outside the county who are the main competition for small Humboldt farmers.

In August 2023, Humboldt County’s Planning Department published an independent analysis of Measure A (http://tinyurl.com/mujswwb7) which found that that “[Measure A] has been presented to preclude new large scale grows, but it will actually prevent existing permit holders, regardless of size, from being able to modify their permits to adapt to the evolving cannabis market and make strides towards greater environmental sustainability.”

The Planning Department’s analysis concluded that this would “place farmers struggling to survive in a place where they can no longer compete in the legal market.”

Here are a few examples of the many alarming provisions contained in Measure A:

  • The initiative restricts “expansion,” which it defines to include an increase in “the number or size of any structures used in connection with cultivation” (p. 8) for all farms, regardless of size. That means small farmers wouldn’t be able to make on-farm improvements that involve new structures like a new drying shed, barn, nursery, or tourism infrastructure.
  • Section CC-P13 of the initiative establishes Category 4 road standards which are rarely met by the County’s rural roads and impossible for nearly all small farmers to meet. Local engineers have estimated the cost of these alterations at $200,000-$250,000 per mile, a cost which only the largest farms can bear.
  • Measure A doesn’t just cap the size of farms: it also caps the number of allowable permits well below current levels, meaning that new small farmers couldn’t become legal unless their neighbors fail.
  • Nearly all of the new rules imposed by Measure A couldn’t be changed without an additional ballot measure. That means errors in the initiative couldn’t be corrected by the Board of Supervisors, and Humboldt’s cannabis ordinances would be prevented from adapting or improving over time.

Measure A’s consequences for small farmers are a large part of why leaders in Humboldt have been so united in their opposition to Measure A, including the Chambers of Commerce in Eureka, Willow Creek, and Southern Humboldt, the Humboldt Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties, Arcata City Council, the North Coast Growers’ Association representing non-cannabis farmers, and small cannabis farmers all across the county.

You can see a full list of the opposition to Measure A at https://www.opposemeasurea.com