{"id":216,"date":"2021-08-08T10:05:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T10:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5ld3N0aW1lcy5jb20vbG9jYWwvYXJ0aWNsZS9JLWp1c3Qtd2FudC10by1ncm93LW15LXdlZWQtRGFuYnVyeS1oZW1wLTE2MzcxMDM3LnBocNIBAA"},"modified":"2021-08-09T18:08:35","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T18:08:35","slug":"i-just-want-to-grow-my-weed-danbury-hemp-farmers-say-equity-is-key-in-citys-marijuana-discussions-danbury-news-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=216","title":{"rendered":"‘I just want to grow my weed’: Danbury hemp farmers say equity is key in city’s marijuana discussions – Danbury News Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY – The short version of how two labor union activists from Harlem and Queens wound up growing hemp in the semi-rural hills of western Danbury is that they were fed up with New York City.<\/p>\n

But the longer story is a certain amount of destiny played a role in the couple\u2019s year-old farming venture, as well as their decision to speak up for people of color as city leaders debate the future of legal marijuana in Danbury.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI just want to grow my weed,\u201d says Hector Gerardo with a laugh that belies how seriously he believes in giving people convicted of marijuana crimes a special advantage in securing cannabis business licenses. \u201cYou can\u2019t talk about equity if you\u2019re not giving the chance to people in Danbury who have gone to jail for cultivating and selling the cannabis plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Equity was the top issue in Hartford late last week when Gov. Ned Lamont\u2019s social equity council approved a list of neighborhoods in Danbury and across the state that were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs<\/a>. Those neighborhoods will receive preferential treatment in Connecticut\u2019s budding recreational marijuana industry.<\/p>\n

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How last week\u2019s action affects newcomers such as Gerardo and his partner Elizabeth Guerra remains to be seen, but the couple agrees that now is the time is now to speak out, as Danbury begins its own discussions about what types of cannabis establishments it will allow in the city.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe would like to see priority given to equity applicants – folks who have gone through the system, were negatively impacted by the system, and were able through some grace of the universe to find money to pull together to put forth an application,\u201d said Guerra.<\/p>\n

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Although Guerra and Gerardo met because of mutual connections in New York City\u2019s labor organizing circles, it turns out that farming runs in both of their families. Gerardo visited his great-grandfather\u2019s farm every summer as a boy in the Dominican Republic. And Guerra\u2019s farming knowledge was handed down from her grandfather, who owned a farm in Ecuador.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Guerra landed a job with the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut that the couple\u2019s farming destiny blossomed. Gerardo was still in the city, unconvinced that a move to Fairfield County was right for a Harlem-raised kid who\u2019d become active in labor organizing and nonprofit work with at-risk youths.<\/p>\n

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After a year of Guerra and her daughter living in Bethel, Gerardo decided to join them and become a Connecticut resident.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the couple launched Seamarron HomeStead Farms on a 3-acre, densely vegetated property east of Wooster Mountain State Park.<\/p>\n

In addition to a crop of hemp – a legal plant<\/a> with such a low dose of THC that does not alter a person\u2019s mood – the couple has a 5-bed vegetable garden, a stand of apple trees, and a small aviary behind a bear-proof electric fence, buzzing with bees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first year,\u201d said Gerardo, who still helps run a Bronx nonprofit that battles food insecurity and the school-to-prison pipeline. \u201cIt may look ugly right now, but it\u2019s going to look beautiful when it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n