Wildfire Risk Upends California Cannabis Insurance

Hannah Whyte is one of thousands of Californians who have struggled to insure their property in the event of wildfire. Her 77-acre farm nestled deep in a wildfire-vulnerable forest lost its coverage from State Farm after the mountainous region burned six years ago, and she’s found herself excluded from the state-created insurer of last resort designed to protect the most vulnerable. She’s become uninsurable because of her crop: cannabis.

Whyte’s plight is becoming increasingly common for weed farmers in the Emerald Triangle, which includes Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties, and has long been the epicenter of US cannabis cultivation. California legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2016, but growers fueling the state’s $5 billion industry already struggle to find insurance given the federal ban on their crop.

With major insurers pulling back from California because of wildfire risk, pot farmers increasingly find themselves confronting the risk of catastrophe on their own. Whyte said she’s relying on “water pumps and a strong dose of bravery” to protect her home and farm, which produces up to 1,600 pounds of marijuana annually. (State Farm didn’t respond to requests for comment.)

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