Legal Marijuana is sprouting in New York

(29 Jun 2022)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4386383

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clifton Park, New York – June 3, 2022
1. Tight seedling planted
HEADLINE: LEGAL MARIJUANA IS SPROUTING IN NEW YORK
2. Med Rich Morris planting
3. Tight planted seedling
4. Wide planting
ANNOTATION: In a novel move, New York is giving hemp farmers first shot at growing recreational marijuana.
5. Tight pot plants
6. Frank Popolizo planting
SOUNDBITE (English) Frank Popolizio, Homestead Farms and Ranch (partially covered): “We have about a half an acre here. And that’ll be year one — will be the max for me and we’ll see how it goes. Obviously, it’s a big undertaking regardless of the amount of space. It’s just it’s something new and want to make sure that we have all the details attended to.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Albany, New York – June 9, 2022
7. Exterior state Capitol
ANNOTATION: State lawmakers wanted small farmers to play a role along with large indoor growers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clifton Park, New York – June 3, 2022
8. Tight seedling
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Albany, New York – June 8, 2022
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Alexander, executive director of state’s Office of Cannabis Management: “We know that there’s a market that we’re building for small players, for big players, for medium sized players, for family businesses, for big corporations as well. And so we just decided to choose to make sure that our small businesses advance first.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clifton Park, New York – June 3, 2022
10.Med warning sign
11.Med workers through fence
12. Wide workers through fence
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Frank Popolizio, Homestead Farms and Ranch (partially covered): “No stone gets unturned here. We’ve got motion detectors, we’ve got lighting that will go off. There’s alarms.”
14. Med Planting
15. Tight planting
16. Tight plant
STORYLINE:
New York’s recreational marijuana market is beginning to sprout, literally, with thin-leafed plants stretching toward the sun in farms around the state.
In a novel move, New York gave 203 hemp growers first shot at cultivating marijuana destined for legal sales, which could start by the end of the year. Big indoor growers are expected to join later.
But for now the field is clear for growers like Frank Popolizio of Homestead Farms and Ranch, where a small crew north of Albany earlier this month dug out shallow holes for seedlings before packing them in by hand.
“It is an opportunity, there’s obviously going to be a demand for it,” Popolizio said during a break in planting. “And hopefully it benefits the farmers. Been a long time since there’s been a real cash crop.”
Popolizio is tending to a half-acre plot north of Albany that will grow upward of a 1,000 plants surrounded by a tall electrified fence. He and other “conditional cultivator” license holders can grow up to an acre of marijuana outdoors. They can grow all or some of their crop in greenhouses, though in smaller areas.
The license is good for two years and holders will be able to distribute cannabis products to retail dispensaries.
The head start for hemp growers is an unusual way to gear up a marijuana market. Heather Trela, a marijuana policy expert at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, said states typically rely initially on their existing medical growers.
New Jersey, for instance, launched sales this year with cannabis grown indoors and sold by companies involved in the medical marijuana market.
Popolizio sees it as his “next logical step.”
A lifelong athlete, Popolizio seems like an unlikely cannabis farmer. He has never puffed a joint or chewed an edible.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/

You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7e98335a94f841279f3a29c10543426d