Amy Steinfeld commented on cannabis cultivation water usage in the Cayuma Valley for the Santa Barbara Independent.
The water used to grow cannabis, the only crop that can be regulated in this way, must be 100 percent offset by paying another farmer to stop irrigating or install a more efficient irrigation system. Cuyama has been divided into six water regions, and the offset must be in the same region, or if in another, the offset increases to 150 percent of water used.
Carrot farmers in the valley, who have long used overhead sprinklers on their water-intensive crop, will be forced to reduce water usage by 5-6 percent per year said Amy Steinfeld, attorney for Cuyama Farms. She noted that as the carrot fields shrank, jobs would likely go to higher-paying cannabis farms.
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