especially in CBD hemp cultivation.
In many ways farming as a business and livelihood is unique, as it involves not only the production of a product but the maintenance of the environment and the appearance of our countryside, not just now, but for the long term future. "We regard all of these facets of modern farming as being equally important and believe that one affects the other," said Christopher Netelkos, CEO of Northridge Corporation. "We believe that well maintained farmland, maintained without the use of synthetic chemicals is not only better for the wildlife that lives on it, but also for the people who work it."
The aim at Northridge Corporation is to be responsible custodians of the part of the countryside in which we live and work, naturally sustaining its character and helping to ensure its maintenance and development for the future. To help do this we are developing Hemp Farm Environmental and Development Program to establish the very best practices, standards and knowledge.
Before your elect to grow hemp, connect us. Our programs are free for growers wanting to truly learn about a commodity easy to grow, but difficult to profit by, both environmentally and financially.
A year ago we presented a report on the perils of "Black Market Cannabis Farming" and for our readers to come forward when observed.
The story posted below underscores what happens when "you turn a blind-eye to the truth."
TWO MONTHS AFTER TWO MEN WERE ARRESTED at an illicit marijuana farm on public land deep in the Northern California wilderness, authorities are assessing the environmental impact and cleanup costs at the site where trees were clear-cut, waterways were diverted, and the ground was littered with open containers of fertilizer and rodenticide. A group including U.S. Forest Service rangers, local law enforcement, scientists and conservationists hiked into the so-called trespass grow where nearly 9,000 cannabis plants were illegally cultivated on national forest land in the region known as the Emerald Triangle, for the marijuana that has been produced there for decades. Authorities allege members of an international drug trafficking ring set up camp at the site as far back as 2015.
When deputies raided the remote clearing in the woods Sept. 9, they found hundreds of pounds of harvested marijuana, thousands of pounds of trash and more than 3 miles of plastic irrigation piping, according to the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office. They also discovered bottles of carbofuran, a banned neurotoxicant used to kill rodents that also has been linked to the deaths of spotted owls, fish and mountain lions. A quarter-teaspoon can kill a 300-pound bear.
The case highlights some of the growing pains California has faced since kicking off broad legal sales in 2018. Its legal marijuana market has grown to more than $3 billion but remains dwarfed by a thriving illegal market, which rakes in nearly $9 billion annually. Limited resources mean officials can’t keep up with all the illegal sites that are remnants of the outlaw era, when much of the pot for the U.S. black market came from the Emerald Triangle. Experts say illegal sites like the one found in the Shasta Trinity National Forest, about 100 miles from the Oregon line, siphon valuable water, pollute legal downstream grows and funnel potentially tainted cannabis onto the streets. “These places are toxic garbage dumps. Food containers attract wildlife, and the chemicals kill the animals long after the sites are abandoned,” said Rich McIntyre, director of the Cannabis Removal on Public Lands (CROP) Project, which is dedicated to restoring criminal grow sites on state and federal property in California. “We think there’s a public health time bomb ticking.”
When you see something, do something.
Northridge Corporation is soliciting support for a coalition of farmers, conservation organizations elected officials, law enforcement agencies and federal land managers. On a nationwide basis, our algorithms predicts that up to 74% of illicit pot comes from trespassers growing on public land. The result - the legal cannabis and hemp markets are being undercut by criminals; illegal grows has undermining the legal cultivators, compromising the environment, harming the health of consumers reducing state tax revenue. Untested and unregulated cannabis and CBD hemp are flooding the market. Black market marijuana and CBD hemp are potentially dangerous because traces of the toxic chemicals used at grow sites are found in the plants.
Join our coalition!