audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - The Emerald Triangle in Northern California is the largest cannabis-producing region in the United States. In Mendocino County, Humboldt County, and Trinity County growers have been cultivating cannabis plants since the 1960s (during San Francisco's Summer of Love). The industry exploded with the passage of California Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Growing cannabis in The Emerald Triangle is considered a way of life, and the locals believe that everyone living in this region is either directly or indirectly reliant on the marijuana business. With prohibition coming to an end many small farmers and horticulturists feel the industry could turn and systematically they would be pushed out for the business. During last year's campaign for Proposition 64, which made recreational marijuana legal for adults in California, advocates of the measure argue that it would protect the small marijuana farms and individual growers, (many of which operated illegally for decades prior to 1996). That's because the initiative stopped the state from issuing licenses to any marijuana farm larger than 1 acre until 2023, or at least that's what voters thought when they passed Proposition 64 unanimously. Recently, a state agency has quietly, issued a rule that could evade the proposition and open the new California state market to big business.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

February 7, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S. - A farmer harvests his crops, chopping down plants and then taking them inside to prepare and hang to dry. Small pot farmers in the California redwoods live a simple, rural life that revolves around growing marijuana, as well as growing their own fruits and vegetables. In the past, farmers were working for the black market. Most farmers want to comply with the rules of the state. As of today, they are up to code and have all of the necessary permits that are required to grow. But as it becomes legalized recreationally, the small farmers are being pushed out by large industrial entities, which in turn will have the same effect that industrialization has had on the food industry, grown in mass quantities instead of quality products. It is becoming too expensive to produce since the prices have plummeted, that many farmers that have been doing this for years are having to look for other sources of income to sustain.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

February 7, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S. - In October on the West Coast, cannabis is harvested. Trimmers from all around the world arrive to help with harvest. Many also harvest cherry orchards and apple orchards in Canada and Washington then make their way down the coast to Oregon and California for cannabis harvest. Small pot farmers in the California redwoods live a simple, rural life that revolves around growing marijuana, as well as growing their own fruits and vegetables. In the past, farmers were working for the black market. Most farmers want to comply with the rules of the state. As of today, they are up to code and have all of the necessary permits that are required to grow. But as it becomes legalized recreationally, the small farmers are being pushed out by large industrial entities, which in turn will have the same effect that industrialization has had on the food industry, grown in mass quantities instead of quality products. It is becoming too expensive to produce since the prices have plummeted, that many farmers that have been doing this for years are having to look for other sources of income to sustain.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - A farmer in California hangs cannabis to be dried in their drying shed.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - California growers show their greenhouse full of transplants, ready to be planted outdoor.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - A small farmer, KATHERINE, prepares her cannabis crop to then hang to dry. Her and her husband sell their cannabis to a medical dispensary that uses it for tinctures, a medicine made by dissolving a drug in alcohol, to treat various ailments.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - Alpacas pose in front of 100 year old apple trees on the cannabis-producing property.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

February 7, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S. - A family celebrates their child's 7th birthday. He hits a homemade pinata filled with candy as his dad swings it up and down. Small pot farmers in the California redwoods live a simple, rural life that revolves around growing marijuana, as well as growing their own fruits and vegetables. In the past, many farmers were working for the black market. Most farmers want to comply with the rules of the state. As of today, they are up to code and have all of the necessary permits that are required to grow. But as it becomes legalized recreationally, the small farmers are being pushed out by large industrial entities, which in turn will have the same effect that industrialization has had on the food industry, grown in mass quantities instead of quality products. It is becoming too expensive to produce since the prices have plummeted, that many farmers that have been doing this for years are having to look for other sources of income to sustain.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - Blue Dream cannabis plants sit under a starlit sky and redwood trees as a backdrop.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

February 15, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S. - A small cannabis farm in Mendocino County, California. Small pot farmers in the California redwoods live a simple, rural life that revolves around growing marijuana, as well as growing their own fruits and vegetables. In the past, farmers were working for the black market. Most farmers want to comply with the rules of the state. As of today, they are up to code and have all of the necessary permits that are required to grow. But as it becomes legalized recreationally, the small farmers are being pushed out by large industrial entities, which in turn will have the same effect that industrialization has had on the food industry, grown in mass quantities instead of quality products. It is becoming too expensive to produce since the prices have plummeted, that many farmers that have been doing this for years are having to look for other sources of income to sustain.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - KATHERINE searches the property for alpaca manure to use for fertilizer in the compost. She turns to watch the alpaca and her dog Zara run and play together.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - BRAD hangs cannabis to dry.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2018 - Mendocino County, California, U.S - BRAD inspects compost he recently brewed for his plants with a microscope. He uses only natural fertilizers on his plants.
© Deleigh Hermes/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire