Dynamics of cannabis expansion on the North Coast - Dr. Van Butsic скачать в хорошем качестве

Dynamics of cannabis expansion on the North Coast - Dr. Van Butsic

Humboldt and Mendocino Counties have long been hotbeds of cannabis production in California. Here, we document the dynamics of cannabis agriculture in this region from 2012-2018 using data from high resolution satellite imagery to document over 20,000 individual grow sites. We find that the total amount of cannabis grow sites increased dramatically between 2012 and 2016 and then again between 2016-2018. We found that this increase in the number of farms corresponded with 1) more farmers utilizing greenhouses for at least some of the growing season and 2) a steadily increasing size of grow sites. While the predominant trend was increased number of farms, we did find that in each time period a number of farms stopped producing. Most of these were small in size. We found that cannabis farms were clustered on the landscape and usually were found in areas that were not zoned for agriculture. Finally, as of 2018 the vast majority of cannabis farms in our dataset were not permitted. In general, large farms were more likely to be permitted than small farms.