$2.5 million fund to support small farmers in Humboldt, Trinity Counties unveiled

In two of the three Emerald Triangle counties, aid is on the way to farmers in distress, and funds are available to improve drought resilience and licensing compliance.

Cannabis for Conservation (CFC), a 501(c)(3) environmental organization based in Humboldt County, California, announced $2.5 million in grant funding to support small cannabis growers through the Cannabis Conservation Grant Program of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through the Qualified Program to support Cultivator Funding Opportunity, according to a Feb. 28 press release.

Smallholders in the Emerald Triangle, an area where the economy is based on cannabis cultivation, have been “marginated” by the impact of legalization, reports Cal Matters. It’s a region of over a quarter of a million people, and almost everyone living in the region is addicted to cannabis, either directly or indirectly. Cannabis has been the region’s staple since the ’70s, with some farms operating for generations. Providing grants could not be more urgent, according to locals.

The two announced grants — Implementation of Drought Resilience Strategies on Cannabis Farms in Humboldt County and Transitional Grower Licenses in Trinity County — will collectively support 89 farms in eight priority watersheds with environmental work.

“We see a major conservation opportunity in this burgeoning industry, especially given that many farmers own large tracts of land in one of the most biodiverse ecoregions in the world,” said Jackie Riccio, co-founder and chief executive officer of CFC.

CFC’s Drought Resilience Program aims to improve sustainable water use on approximately 17 farms. They will do this by installing rainwater harvesting systems, increasing water storage capacity, and/or hardening and improving irrigation. They believe this will improve drought resilience on farms and reduce direct impacts on water sources during periods of low flow.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “the frequency, intensity and duration of drought events” are increasing at an unprecedented rate.

However, this is not about turning small farms into monopolies: CFC states that none of these water improvements will be used to increase acreage requirements, farm size, or number of licenses, but rather to reduce or eliminate extraction from water resources along the way droughts and, in some cases, farms are transitioning to 100% water storage.

The Provisional to Annual License Program, on the other hand, aims to help 72 Trinity growers obtain an annual County and Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) license. The grant aims to provide smallholder farmers with professional assistance in completing annual licenses, including “the completion of documentation for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance and special status species reduction, and the facilitation of a technical advisory committee between CDFW, CFC, and to quickly eliminate licensing obstacles that arise in the district.”

CEQA is a 1970 California law that requires an environmental assessment of proposed cultivation projects. All annual state cannabis licenses must comply with CEQA. The DCC may only issue an annual license if a project is CEQA compliant. In addition, DCC has requirements for standard operating procedures, staff training, and how operations must be set up.

CFC’s applied conservation approach focuses on collaborative, agricultural research, biodiversity enhancement and environmental education.

The aim is to bring scientists and farmers together to implement peer-reviewed conservation practices with benefits for wildlife, land and water.

“Collaborating with farmers and transforming monocultures into functioning agroecosystems is a priority strategy among conservationists worldwide, and here, in the heart of cannabis country, we are doing our part to return to back-to-the-land values that this industry had once born out of,” added Riccio.