The wildfires in Northern California destroyed vegetable farms in Sonoma County, “including several that were founded in the past six years by young farmers taking part in the local organic farm movement,” says the San Francisco Chronicle. Growers lost homes and farm buildings and say that getting back into production will be an uphill battle.
The Chronicle listed six vegetable farms that burned completely or had severe damage. Evan Wiig of the Farmers Guild, a network of local farms, said the fire’s impact on local agriculture will be “massive.”
Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee said “much of the state’s legal marijuana crop is going up in flames.” The California Growers Association said crop losses are likely to run in the tens of millions of dollars. Some operations in California’s wine country shifted to cannabis from grapes since marijuana became legal on expectation of high revenue per acre. Legal cannabis sales are to begin in January. “Because federal law prohibits marijuana sales, growers don’t qualify for insurance or federal disaster relief aid,” said the Bee.