The Napa Valley has become synonymous with wine, as grapevines cover the flatlands and creep up the hillsides. Now some entrepreneurs hope a new crop will take root: marijuana.
Last week, a group called the Napa Valley Cannabis Association submitted what they believe are enough signatures to put the question of cannabis cultivation on the March 2020 ballot. Although California legalized marijuana in 2016, Napa — perhaps wary of threatening its lucrative monoculture — has banned pot farming.
That could change, if the cannabis backers, who include some major names in wine, have their way.
“I don’t want to damage the Napa brand for grapes,” said Eric Sklar, a St. Helena resident who grows a small amount of cannabis on a Lake County farm and is a founding member of the cannabis group. “But I’m convinced, and so are a lot of grape growers, that cannabis and grapes can coexist and it will be better for Napa County.”
Opponents say there isn’t room for another cash crop. Grapes represent 99 percent of the county’s agricultural revenue, versus 65 percent in Sonoma, another wine-growing region that’s been far friendlier toward crop growers. The opponents fear that cannabis would contaminate vineyards, strain an already-tight farm labor force and detract from wine sales. The Napa County Farm Bureau voted in May to oppose the initiative, which was then in the signature-gathering phase.
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