California cops bust berry big Bud Farm

Squat berry plants do little to conceal tall hoop houses containing illegal cannabis.

A massive illegal cannabis grow-op made up of almost 300 greenhouses containing about 14,000 illegal plants was recently found amidst a berry farm in northern Monterey County, Calif.

“The illegal operation was hidden on a berry farm in unincorporated Salinas, Calif., nearly 300 hoop houses,” notes a statement from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office (MCDAO). “Berries were planted along the perimeter of the hoop houses to conceal the true nature of the operation,” MCDAO adds.

In all, members of the Monterey County Cannabis Enforcement Unit found and destroyed 14,000-plus illegal weed plants and just shy of 13,610 kilograms of processed cannabis. The unit was aided by MCDAO’s Bureau of Investigations, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Monterey County Department of Public Works.

An investigation into the illegal operation is continuing.

Medicinal and recreational cannabis are both legal in California. That said, individuals 21 and older can only grow up to as six cannabis plants at home for personal use, while commercial cultivation requires a licence and adherence to local rules, including whether or not outdoor grows are even permitted.

“The licensed cannabis industry in Monterey County is currently experiencing economic hardship caused, in part, by a substantial decrease in the market value of processed cannabis,” MCDAO reports.

One contributing factor to the decrease is the supply of cannabis products from the illegal industry, the statement adds, which does not test for consumer safety, is not taxed and generally uses illegal labour practices for processing.

The Portland Business Journal reported earlier this summer that prices for cannabis in the state have declined 10 to 19 per cent in the past year alone. In Colorado, Marijuana Business Daily reported in July that the wholesale price of cannabis flower in the state had fallen to an all-time low.

Some reasons for lower prices overall include oversupply of product, plenty of competition, high taxation, consolidation and store or business closures.

“As the industry is growing and evolving, a vast majority of producers are opting to accept lower margins, as opposed to passing additional costs on to the consumers,” according to tax experts EisnerAmper LLP.

Authors of a Canadian study published online in late 2021 noted that two years after recreational cannabis was legalized in the country, “the price of dried flower from legal sources decreased, along with a greater percentage of consumers purchasing from legal sources than after one year.”

The authors recommended at that time that “price and retail policies must continue to encourage the transition to the legal market in Canada.”

The recent bust in California is hardly the first time that farmers have tried mixing crops. Two years ago in India, Panchmahal Police didn’t initially see anything amiss when they visited a local farm, but a more thorough check of the maize field revealed cannabis plants weighing more than 18 kilograms.

Also in 2020, a Vietnamese farmer landed in hot water when he was unable to convince the authorities that he was growing 300 cannabis plants as feed for his chickens so they wouldn’t get sick (this might be particularly galling for the farmer given that, earlier this year, a chicken farm in northern Thailand reported it now has higher-quality meat and eggs because it feed its animals cannabis).

Back in 2015, a 44-year-old Australian man was charged with drug production and possession after a feral pig was found munching on a marijuana plant.

And here at home in 2013, B.C. police unearthed an illegal cannabis grow-op bunker with 430 potted plants disguised as a hobby farm with sheep and pigs.