LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Farm Bureau Board of Directors is encouraging community members to vote no on Measure D, the medical marijuana cultivation initiative that is scheduled to appear on the June 5 ballot, citing concerns over the measure's potential impact on local agriculture.

Lake County Farm Bureau officials said the group opposes the proposed initiative based on several points.

Among them, the initiative claims medical marijuana is an agricultural crop, but that statement is incorrect, Lake County Farm Bureau said.

Neither the United States Department of Agriculture nor the California Department of Food and Agriculture have ever recognized marijuana as an agricultural crop. In California, marijuana is a controlled substance, but has never been classified as a crop or horticulture product by either the USDA or CDFA.

The group said the initiative also builds on the false claim of medical marijuana as an agricultural crop by attempting to add the protection of the cultivation of medical marijuana under the Lake County Right to Farm Ordinance.

In essence, the Lake County Right to Farm states that an agricultural operation conducted for commercial purposes consistent with accepted customs shall not become a nuisance.  

To give an example of how this initiative might be interpreted, if a neighbor to a marijuana grow site wishes to file a formal complaint as a result of the nuisance presented by the odor of the plant, the grow site could claim protection under the Right to Farm Ordinance.  

Because marijuana is not a recognized agricultural crop, Measure D is incorrectly attempting to gain protection from the Right to Farm Ordinance, Lake County Farm Bureau said.

Farm Bureau is Lake County's largest farm organization, representing over 650 farm families and individual members.

In opposing Measure D, Lake County Farm Bureau joins the city councils of Lakeport and Clearlake, the Lake County Board of Supervisors, Lake County Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Lake County chapter of the California Women for Agriculture, Sierra Club Lake Group, Kelseyville Business Association, Lake County Chamber of Commerce, the Buckingham and Clear Lake Riviera homeowners associations, and the Lake County Association of Realtors’ Board of Directors.