Marijuana meets Big Food: Why green weed isn’t easy to grow

One byproduct of patchwork laws governing marijuana in the U.S. is that businesses only legal in some states can’t expect the Department of Agriculture to sign off on their organic status.

In a downtown Denver warehouse measuring just under 20,000 square feet, Amy Anderle and her team at L’Eagle Services have embarked on an experiment in urban agriculture.

The company grows all of the product sold at its store, employing as many as 40 people during the busy season to harvest, process and sell dozens of individual items. They do it all without synthetic pesticides, using alternatives like garlic oil instead, and emphasize efficiency when it comes to natural resources.

Still, the business has little to officially show for its efforts in the way of high-profile sustainability credentials or organic labels. That’s in large part because the crop Anderle and her employees are growing only recently became legal: marijuana.

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