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Cannabis
has long been the economic backbone of Humboldt County. While efforts
to quantify exactly how large a contribution cannabis makes to the
local economy are challenging, a recent estimate from the Humboldt
County Sheriff’s Office states that approximately 4,000 illegal pot farms still operate in the county. Including licensed grows, the total is around 5,000 farms. Assuming
just 500 pounds of production each and a price of $500 per pound,
these farms would generate approximately $1.25 billion a year. In
addition, Humboldt has a large number of commercial-sized indoor
grows not included in these numbers. Regardless of the exact figures,
cannabis plays a huge role in the local economy and has since the
demise of the timber and fishing industries.
For
those who don’t know, the price of outdoor or sun-grown cannabis
collapsed this year, down over 50
percent from a year ago….
