Excellent Story about Trimmigrant culture, from a positive lens
Most people, to include those that have been consuming cannabis for years, have no idea what goes into transforming the plant into a product. Even less is known about the yearly “trimmigration” that occurs in Northern California, the worldwide epicenter of cannabis cultivation.
This is an excellent story focusing on some of the positive community elements of the seasonal, temporary labor force that comes from all over the world to trim cannabis for a few months in the fall. When they can come together in this almost familial way, not only are they are more productive, but they also produce a higher quality product. I love the last lines of the article which sum this up in a wonderful way: “A San Francisco pot smoker who bought an ounce of the weed that had been processed by the trimmigrants raved about the buds. ‘They’re beautiful,’ she said. ‘They’re works of art. You can tell somebody cared.’”
While these positive, collegial environments are fortunately common, a lot of times it’s simply luck that the right individuals have found each other.
Many times this is not the case, and both trimmer and grower alike put themselves at risk with every job. Earlier this year, there was an exposé on other trimmigrants, mainly foreigners, who unfortunately experienced the dark side of the harvest which exists because of the lack of transparency — exploitation and human trafficking. Even worse, a grower was killed by his hires in Laytonville last month, which we talk about in detail in a previous blog post.
Please enjoy the article, and while you read it, think about how positive the experience could be for every trimmigrant with added trust and transparency, and ultimately how that will affect the product you consume.
