My story about the first legal cannabis crop of its kind in nearly a century in New York State is on the cover of the @nytstyle today. Learn what farmers are up against, and the massive opportunity in front of them, as exclusive growing rights were granted to 261 former hemp farmers with two-year provisional licenses. At best this crop will provide 700,000 lbs per year. The market in New York State is estimated at 3m - 5m lbs per year. As of the printing of this piece, not a single retail license has been approved. The Office of Cannabis Management is trying to balance the needs of the market with those of small farmers, and avoid a disastrous situation as in California, where lax oversight and haphazard licensing allowed large corporations to dominate, poor quality cannabis to flood the market, and a crash in prices.