A half dozen outdoor cannabis farms have been licensed in Central Massachusetts, including Regenerative in Uxbridge. Since cannabis was legalized for adult use in 2016, the plant has surpassed cranberries as Massachusetts’ number one cash crop.

While some states, including Rhode Island, have decided to prohibit outdoor commercial cultivation of this newly legalized plant, Massachusetts went a different route, not only allowing outdoor marijuana cultivation, but taking steps to encourage the practice as a means of helping the environment and the farming industry.

Still, unlike most agricultural products, a majority of Central Massachusetts’ cannabis is grown indoors; just seven of the area’s 50 licensed adult use cultivations are outdoor farms, according to state data.

Outdoor growers face a litany of hurdles to bring product to market, but the end result can be an environmentally friendlier option to indoor production and can result in a more affordable and natural product, with some desirable characteristics, which are hard to find with weed grown indoors, according to outdoor enthusiasts. Pot pollution

Enticed by the ability to control the environment and avoid the prying eyes of police helicopters, many of the nation’s illicit marijuana growers migrated indoors in the late 1980s, according to a 2021 academic paper by Nick Johnson, a Colorado-based historian.

Even after legalization, much of the country’s production has remained inside, particularly in states with colder climates and shorter growing seasons. Advancements in high-intensity artificial lighting effectively replaced sunlight.

Indoor cultivation comes at a cost for both businesses and the environment, requiring lighting to rival the brightness of the sun and high-capacity HVAC systems rotating air in facilities at three times the rate of commercial buildings.

Cannabis cultivation has an energy demand competing with data centers, according to a 2021 study published by Gina Warren, a University of Houston Law Center professor. The average cultivation can consume 50-200 times more electricity than an office building. Outdoor cannabis chart A 2012 study by a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found indoor cultivation was already responsible for emissions equaling 3 million cars. Since that study was published, 24 states have legalized cannabis for recreational use, with […]

The green outdoors: Indoor cannabis cultivation has a big environmental impact, but a few Central Mass. growers are blazing a more sustainable trail