Mike Hackett's Monterey County cannabis farm is buzzing with energy on this sunny day in July. Trucks drive between greenhouses dropping off supplies. Farmworkers in hoodies sort through tables filled with young cannabis plants just 6 inches tall, while dozens of workers in a nearby building trim marijuana flower by the bucket load. The whole scene looks like living proof of the economic benefits of cannabis legalization.
But as Hackett stands inside one of his 10 greenhouses, thousands of ripe plants swaying around him in a wind produced by the facility's constantly humming fans he admits this entire operation is on the verge of going silent.
"We're in survival mode right now. We are barely floating by on a week to week basis," Hackett told SFGate. He was able to hold on through the summer and early fall, but in early November, he said he's finally about to pull the plug, and his family's Riverview Farms could soon become the latest victim of the boom and bust of Monterey County cannabis.
This region on California's Central Coast, with its fertile Salinas Valley located 60 miles south of San Jose, was an early winner after state voters legalized cannabis in 2016. Millions of dollars of cannabis investments flowed into the valley, which has been an agricultural powerhouse for over a century, and by 2020, Monterey was producing more packaged cannabis goods than any other county in the state.
Read more at SFGate
