California growers will not be allowed to grow more than 1 acre of cannabis until 2023, according to an environmental review of proposed state regulations released this week.

Some in the industry claimed this proposal would protect small farmers over larger corporate mega-grows.

“I know this is going to be very difficult, costly and painful for some producers,” Hezekiah Allen, California Growers Association Executive Director, said Wednesday. “But when you look at the big picture and the entirety of the state of California or even bigger with the national cannabis reform movement, this is a very prudent decision to have been made.”

Honeydew Farm LLC will be one of a few farms that will be affected by the proposal. Owners of the farm Alex and Miranda Moore of Ferndale are now forced to review their business plans just six weeks before the state’s social cannabis legalization in January.

The couple currently has more than 6 acres of medical cannabis cultivation, which was allowed by Humboldt County, and is already a year-and-a-half into their operations.

“It’s frustrating,” Alex Moore said. “Ultimately, I’m staying positive. If Honeydew Farms has farms for our company and ends up being landlords with the rest and leasing to other companies then so be it. There’s no other option. There is no going back.”

In July 2016, the farm was of the first in Humboldt County to receive a permit for a medical cannabis farm and was allowed to grow up to 4 acres of cannabis, under the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act.

However, the rules changed after the passage of the social cannabis legalization measure Proposition 64 later that year, as well this year’s Senate Bill 94, that prohibits the state from issuing licenses for farms larger than 1 acre before Jan. 1, 2023.

“To just dump that and have us or how many others there are like us that have invested a lot into infrastructure and building a company and then to say, ‘We changed that, sorry,’ it’s kind of ridiculous,” Moore said.

The revised rules are part of this week’s California Department of Food and Agriculture’s environmental review of the state’s revised cannabis cultivation rules, which will be released Thursday along with others regulating testing, licensing and other aspects of the industry.

Although the new limitations contrast with Humboldt County’s efforts to expand the industry, it is unlikely the county will change the ordinance.

“We’re trying to maintain a completely separate kind of path that is independent, but not in conflict,” county Planning and Building Department Director John Ford said.

Therefore, while the Moores might be permitted to cultivate 4 acres of cannabis at the local level, the state will only license 1 acre of that. The other acres will have to be leased out or sold to other people.

According to Allen, the ordinance goes against the state’s interests to allow for farms larger than one acre.

“Consolidating the marketplace runs counter to the public safety and environmental goals that the state is trying to achieve,” he said. “… The [environmental impact report] is very clear in one of the preceding sections that oversupply is a problem. If the state of California has too much product, it’s likely to drive people back into the unregulated market.”

Moore added the state should make an exception for farms like his, which were following existing state laws at the time they were permitted.

“This whole industry is a roller coaster ride right now. That route might change,” he said. “We’re going to be riding the roller coaster, and whatever changes happen, we’ll absorb them and that will be that.”