SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO/CNN) — A young but booming industry in California is carefully watching the wildfire crisis in the state. They’re worried the growing flames will have a negative effect on one of the state’s biggest crops: cannabis.
It’s harvest time in Sonoma County. We’ve already heard about the grapes and concerns about how smoke taint from fires will eliminate some vintages. It is a great concern to Erich Pearson, who is part biologist, part grower, and full-time CEO at Sparc in Glenn Ellen.
Right now, his crop is coming in. Towering, flowering cannabis. Acres of it. In Sonoma County, other growers have concerns about smoke taint as well.
Smoke taint in cannabis is different from smoke taint in grapes. In grapes, smoke taint effects taste. In cannabis, people don’t want ashes on their pot. If those ashes happen to be polluted, they don’t want that pot at all.
Pearson explained, there is organic smoke from a forest, which is what’s on these plants,…