Crops Destroyed at Largest Colorado Cannabis Farm Due to Early Freeze

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]L[/dropcap]os Sueños Farms in Pueblo, Colorado calls itself the largest cannabis farm in the state, but recently the farm lost millions of dollars’ worth of cannabis due to subfreezing temperatures. An Oct. 10 storm threatened the farm’s entire harvest.

Crew members at the farm attempted to save what they could, and chopped down about 50 percent of the crops or about 20,000 plants. They also dealt with 50-mph winds that blew off blankets they used in a futile attempt to protect the plants. But the other half of the farm’s 40,000 plants were covered in snow and most likely destroyed.

“It was going to be a huge, bumper year,” Los Sueños founder Bob DeGabrielle said. “Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about Mother Nature.” DeGabrielle said the farm could have harvested about 750,000 pounds of biomass, but after the storm, it looks like it will be much less.

According to Marijuana Business Daily, the loss could send ripples through the Colorado cannabis industry’s supply chain. After all, Los Sueños Farms supplies several major companies including Wana Brands, Dixie Brands and Evolab. Retailers and processors could face higher wholesale prices, and the local market for wholesale flower is already tight. There is a silver lining, however, and extractors may get extra plant material due to the disaster.

Colorado meteorologists recently recorded a 70-degree drop in temperature—in just 34 hours. Temperatures dropped from a balmy 83 degrees to subfreezing 13 degrees, and it changed from summer-like weather to winter weather.

Los Sueños Farms boasts 36 acres of outdoor crops and an indoor cultivation operation. It’s currently unclear how much damage was done. However, Los Sueños Farms still estimates an overall yield that is around 25 percent higher than last year’s harvest. “We had some beautiful crops,” DeGabrielle added. “And of what we got we have some beautiful bud to sell.”