| Kentucky crops, even marijuana suffered from summer drought |
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| By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The 2007 drought, which will go down in history as one of the worst ever, has wrecked havoc on nearly every crop grown in the state including the state’s unofficial top cash crop, marijuana.
Last year Kentucky finished second only to California in the number of plants eradicated with 557,276, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA.) The street value of last year’s crop came in at approximately $1.1 billion said Kentucky State Police’s Lt. Ed Shemelya who heads up marijuana eradication in the state.
“A mature plant will yield about one pound of marijuana with a street value between $3,000 and $3,500,” he said. “But I anticipate the price to go up because growers are seeing smaller yields this year. It’s the old supply and demand idea.”
Typically mature plants can grow as tall as 10 feet but the lack of water has left many crops less than half that size.
Shemelya said producers are working harder this year due to the low amounts of rain received across the state thus making their operations more venerable to discovery.
“We’ve almost doubled our arrests from last year due to due to growers working the crop more than normal and increasing their chances of apprehension,” he said. “I don’t want the drought to continue, but it has been our biggest ally and friend from a law enforcement standpoint this year.”
While decreased marijuana yields are a good thing, the demand is not likely to decrease setting the stage for more imports of the product along with the higher price. Marijuana sells for $100 to $500 an ounce on the streets.
“I see the likelihood hood of increased imports of lesser grade Mexican marijuana into this area because of the lack of the crop,” said Shemelya. “Unfortunately, the U.S. is the No. 1 user of illicit drugs so we can’t quit fighting. This is harvest season and we are in a race with growers. We can literally be on one side of a mountain and they are on the other.”
In an area that is less conducive to certain types of agriculture production, the DEA cites the Eastern Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, which covers more than 690,000 acres, as a preferred site for cultivators with its remote and sparsely populated forestlands. Overall, 206,908 marijuana plants were eradicated there in 2003.
Areas such as the national forest suffer damage each year from marijuana producers including property damage to natural resources, archeological sites, and wildlife, including endangered species. Marijuana producers have also destroyed numerous trees, plants and fauna, as well as gates and fences, to clear cultivation sites and drive vehicles to and from the marijuana plots.
This farm news was published in the Sept. 19, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/19/2007 |
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