Cannabis fever leaves a bitter aroma in California vineyards

The battle, which began to unfold after California legalized recreational marijuana in November 2016, pits dispensary Santa Barbara County vintners and residents of the quaint seaside town of Carpentaria with a new neighbor who literally sucks and puts in check. their livelihood and way of life.

"This is the greatest threat to the wine industry that I have seen in my 25 years here," says Stephen James, general manager of Pence Vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills, 200 km northeast of Los Angeles.

The problem is the vast expansion of the county's cannabis market in the past two years, thanks in part to loose regulations that opened the door to a flood of growers interested in profiting from this lucrative harvest.

Overnight, millions of cannabis plants - whose acre may be worth several million dollars - flourished in the Santa Inez and Santa Maria valleys, alongside the vines.

Further south in Carpentaria, the greenhouses that used to grow vegetables now contain marijuana, much to the chagrin of some local residents irritated by the pungent odor emanating from the plants.

"Now I have to wear a mask when I go out to my garden, and my grandchildren no longer visit me because of the smell," sighs Joan Esposito, who has lived in the area for 36 years.

- "Cannabis dominates" -

In the hills of Santa Rita, famous for their Pinot Noir, stretches a string of white-tarp-covered lots as far as the eye can see. It is the precious cannabis.

"It's not like any producer neighbor we've ever had, and this is all happening so fast," says Kathy Joseph, owner of Fiddlehead Wineries and Fiddlestix Vineyards.

"Nobody anticipated the visual impact, nobody in the region had experienced cannabis in this quantity."

"Now cannabis dominates, in many ways," he says.

Wine growers, avocado growers and other farmers say they have to adapt their farming practices so that newcomers don't sue them for inadvertently contaminating their valuable crop.

Wine growers add that, in turn, they fear that their grapes could be contaminated with particles from those plantations.

"This has become a living nightmare," says Joseph, whose neighbor has filed a complaint against him for fear that the pesticides he uses on his vines could contaminate his cannabis.

"I have been producing wine for 40 years and as winegrowers we have strict controls," he adds. "But this year I'm probably going to lose my $ 50,000 Chardonnay crop because I had to switch to a pesticide that was not as effective."

The cannabis association representing some 900 growers in the area did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Santa Barbara County officials who set cannabis policies acknowledged that they should have anticipated the unintended consequences of marijuana farms on existing agriculture and residents of the region.

Joan Hartmann, one of the officials, says that cannabis cultivation in the region has been limited to less than 800 hectares and ensures that ways to defuse the conflict are being explored.

- "The community supports cannabis" -

Graham Farrar, president of the Local Cannabis Association for Responsible Growers, argues that marijuana growers have strived to be good neighbors, installing odor control systems and providing necessary taxes for the community.

"The community supports cannabis and the average street individual does not care, they support cannabis as a concept or farmers in particular," he tells AFP.

Farrar also dismisses complaints about the smell, ensuring that while there may be an occasional stench, it is not overwhelming.

"I think a lot of those who talk about the smell don't like it because it reminds them that there is cannabis growing there and they think it's a moral flaw and society would be better off without it," he says.

His argument, however, doesn't sit well with everyone.

"For an industry that has been here for 40-45 years and contributes 1.8 billion dollars to the local economy, for another industry to come and make us change our ways, affect our cultivation, I don't think it's fair," says Janes.

He and other vintners are not opposed to marijuana, he adds, but they want stricter controls to preserve their livelihoods so that the smell of hemp doesn't ruin their tastings.

Some locals are unwilling to wait for the end of the conflict. Maureen Foley Claffey is packing her bags and moving her family out of the Carpinteria neighborhood where she grew up.

"It's like having 500 liquor stores within three blocks," he says, referring to the marijuana farms.

"There are neighbors at odds and I've lost friends because of this," Claffey says.