Suit is over “the ruination of a small farm by the repeated negligence of a large, multi-state plant producer and supplier”
It’s still basically the start of 2025, but in the Massachusetts cannabis world, this is already shaping up to the Year of the Lawsuit.
As we covered extensively last week, MCR Labs is suing several other Independent Testing Laboratories. That case has wide-ranging implications, and could lead to other complaints. And today, the Hatfield-based River Valley Growers (RVG) filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against defendants including the Cannabis Control Commission and its acting chair regarding “the ruination of a small farm by the repeated negligence of a large, multi-state plant producer and supplier.”
RVG is also suing its Western Mass neighbor, Nourse Farms, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle. The Boston Globe reported on the suit this morning. More from the complaint below …
In 2021, RVG, a then-newly licensed marijuana cultivator, harvested and sold approximately 22,680 pounds of marijuana, a promising start to what it hoped would be a successful cultivation business. … Before kicking off the 2022 cultivation season, RVG entered into a production contract with a manufacturing partner, which agreed to purchase all marijuana plant material grown by RVG during the 2022 season up to a maximum of 60,000 pounds at a preset, discount price of $150.00 per pound. …
That year, RVG harvested approximately 47,000 pounds of marijuana.’ Under the production contract with its manufacturing partner, RVG was due to receive approximately $7,052,400 for the 2022 Harvest, assuming it passed state-mandated pesticide testing. The 2022 Harvest consists of (i) 21,326,144 grams of usable, fresh-frozen marijuana plant material stored in 60-pound bags …
RVG submitted representative samples of the 2022 Harvest for pesticide testing, fully expecting that –like its 2021 harvest-the samples would pass because RVG never used pesticides on or around its fields and crops in compliance with Massachusetts law, which prohibits licensed marijuana cultivators like RVG from using pesticides on marijuana plants. …
To RVG’s shock and horror, the 2022 Harvest samples tested positive for multiple active ingredients found in pesticides. …
Almost immediately, MDAR commenced an investigation to determine the source of the 2022 Harvest’s pesticide contamination. MDAR’s own pesticide tests confirmed the presence of pesticides on vegetation and other samples taken on or around RVG’s cultivation facility. …
Due to the pesticide contamination, MDAR ordered RVG to “[d]estruct unusable all of [its] cannabis grown during the 2022 season,” an all-but-fatal blow to RVG in just its second year of business.
But wait, there’s more …
After a lengthy investigation, MDAR concluded that Nourse, which surrounds RVG’s cultivation facility, was responsible for the contamination of the 2022 Harvest.
Specifically, MDAR issued [findings] on April 20, 2023, in which MDAR found that because the 2022 Harvest tested “positive for pesticide active ingredients [contained] in many of the products used by [Nourse] on [its] Agricultural Fields, the Department has determined that [Nourse]’s pesticide applications drifted, and [Nourse] did not operate in a careful manner. …
Nourse appealed … prompting MDAR to investigate further. … Thereafter, MDAR confirmed its original findings.
The complaint goes on to state that “during the investigations and subsequent appeals, which lasted from November 2022 through August 2024, RVG was compelled to maintain the 2022 Harvest in its fresh-frozen state, monopolizing the only freezer space available on the premises.” And “With nowhere to store a subsequent harvest and no way to expand, RVG was (during the 2023 and 2024 seasons) and is to this day prevented from growing and harvesting marijuana in a legally compliant manner.”
The company is arguing that “Nourse’s negligent application of pesticides directly and proximately caused (i) RVG’s loss of the entire value of the 2022 Harvest; and (ii) RVG’s inability to use its licensed cultivation field to grow marijuana for sale in 2023 and 2024.” RVG is claiming losses “estimated to total at least $17 million.”
All defendants are innocent until proven otherwise, etc. To be continued …
