Commercial medical marijuana farming in Calaveras County was worth about $340 million last year, likely making pot the struggling county’s No. 1 industry, a new study finds.
The analysis by University of the Pacific’s Center for Business and Policy Research was commissioned by supporters of marijuana farmers and comes less than three months before voters are expected to consider banning the business altogether.
The study found that marijuana farms created about 3,400 jobs last year, including jobs on the farm, but also jobs that are indirectly supported by the industry. The estimated 112 tons of harvested marijuana itself was worth about $251 million, but the overall economic boost was said to be about $340 million or about 19 percent of the county’s regional economy.
And that doesn’t include fees and taxes that would bring in millions more.
"Our median income is dropping, poverty is increasing and 40 percent of our employed people have to work outside of the country. Here’s an opportunity that our county has to turn all of that around," said Jason Hauer, owner of the Ebbetts Pass Lumber Company, which paid for the study.
Hauer’s business supplies growers with soil, fertilizer, pipes and other needs. He contacted the university to get an outside perspective on what’s happening, he said.
"If I were to give you my opinion of the size of the industry it would easily be dismissed," Hauer said. "We just want the numbers to speak for themselves."
Many other business owners agree, Hauer said, but are afraid to publicly say so for fear of retaliation.
The study doesn’t consider all of the economic impacts of marijuana, including the societal costs that opponents believe the industry will bring to the region.
"They can’t put a price tag on that. And maybe they can’t. Maybe the price tag is so astronomical that there is no dollar amount that can pay for these things," said David Tunno, a spokesman for the movement to ban commercial marijuana in the county.
Marijuana has been quietly grown for decades in Calaveras County, but the Butte Fire sparked a land rush as growers from outside of the area sought to establish new farms. County supervisors decided to regulate the industry in part to stop the land rush.
They faced substantial backlash from some in the community, however. One supervisor was recalled and other new ones were elected. A petition to ban marijuana was circulated and generated enough signatures to force an election in May.
The Pacific report finds that marijuana in Calaveras last year was bigger even than tourism and hospitality. The $251 million in sales was nearly nine times the size of all other county agriculture types combined.
"These are large economic impacts for a small rural county such as Calaveras," the study concludes.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: At $340M, Marijuana May Be Top Industry In Calaveras County
Author: Alex Breitler
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Photo Credit: Clifford Oto
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