Cannabis grown outdoors in Big Sur draws a reputation similar to that of produce grown in the Salinas Valley. The geographic marker is understood nationally, even globally, as an indication of quality.
Yet, while the legal market for cannabis has boomed since Prop. 64 legalized recreational use in 2016 – a boom that has driven the market to oversupply, tanked wholesale prices and, right now, threatens the livelihood of small-to-medium-sized growers – growers in Big Sur have struggled to break into the legal market, despite the county’s efforts to get them onboard.
According to Executive Director Oliver Bates, the Big Sur Farmers Association represented 150 cannabis growers when the organization began in 2017. Today, he says only 15 growers remain, none of which are part of the legalized industry. There are no legal outdoor cannabis growing operations in all of Monterey County, despite the county’s legalization of the practice in Big Sur, Carmel Valley and Cachagua in 2019. The county has one active application for an outdoor growing permit, but it has been deemed incomplete.
To county staff, the lack of interest is clear: the program, which limits outdoor operations to properties that hosted grows prior to 2016, is too restrictive. To some Big Sur growers who spoke to the Weekly on background, the real issue is something else, but just as clear: Many cannabis growers in Big Sur don’t want to let the government into their business.
On Aug. 30, County Supervisor Mary Adams attempted to garner support for a program update, proposing to extend the outdoor grow pilot program to 2030, increase the total outdoor canopy limit, and expand eligibility criteria. The three Salinas Valley supervisors torpedoed Adams’ proposal, voting 3-2 only to extend the program to 2030 with no eligibility or canopy expansion. Adams appeared to be amazed that she couldn’t get support on a program in which the work would be contained to her District 5.
“I look in the mirror every day and ask myself, ‘What is happening out there?’ The respect that used to be part of the Board of Supervisors, where people would defer to the supervisor whose district the issue was in, has not been in place,” Adams says. “The common civility is gone.”
District 2 Supervisor John Phillips says his reasons for rejecting the proposal were many; chief among them was an aversion toward outdoor cannabis operations in general, despite bending to Adams’ desire to create the program in 2019.
It remains unclear where the county’s attempt at an outdoor market will go next. Adams and Erik Lundquist, the county’s director of the Housing and Community Development Department, say the county wants to eventually help create a Big Sur appellation for cannabis, but that will first require some legal grows. Adams has no plans to bring the issue back until 2023, when a new supervisor will be in Phillips’ seat – either Regina Gage or Glenn Church. Adams hopes the victorious candidate will help turn the tide on outdoor cannabis.