SNOWFLAKE, Ariz. – In Arizona, the Symington name is associated with politics, not pot, but that has changed thanks to a massive cannabis company located about three hours north of Phoenix.
The small town of Snowflake has about 6,000 people. It is windy and there is not a lot to do. However, the high elevation, low humidity, and amount of sunlight make it the ideal location for a greenhouse.
J. Fife Symington IV, the son of the former governor, took an unusual path to get to Copperstate Farms.
“This was a tomato greenhouse originally,” Symington IV said. “They also grew seedless cucumbers and colored bell peppers here.”
After graduating from Harvard, Symington IV went to Mexico to learn about agriculture and become fluent in Spanish. He never thought that growing cannabis would one day become his career.
We asked him, “When you were growing up, did you ever envision, like, this would be your life, like sitting here, you know, growing weed?”
“Not in a million years, not in a million years,” Symington IV said.
He bought the greenhouse in 2016. Medical marijuana was already legal.
“One of the first people I talked to, was my father, and I said, ‘hey, dad, I’m really thinking about doing this, and are you okay with that?’” Symington IV said. “He laughed and he said, ‘you’ve been farming in greenhouses your whole life. This seems like a natural evolution of, you know, your career path and, it’s legal.’”
The first harvest was in 2017. The business has blossomed,…
