For These New York Farmers, Harvest Time Means Highlights

Paul Barbera for The New York Times

In the 1930s, cannabis cultivation was virtually banned in the United States.

Gradual decriminalization in recent years has meant the return of a culture that was once an American staple.

Now New York State farmers are growing tetrahydrocannabinol-rich plants with names like Sweet Cheese , Sour Diesel and Blueberry Cupcake. We visited them at harvest time.

For these New York farmers, harvest time is synonymous with highlights

In the fields of Sag Harbor in Ithaca, a new crop matured this fall: cannabis plants bred for recreational marijuana.

By John Ortved

Photographs by Paul Barbera

It was a long-standing cash crop in the United States, as American as apple pie.

Cannabis sativa fields stretched from New England to Virginia even before the Revolutionary War, when the main crop, hemp, was used in the production of ropes, sails, paper and clothing.

George Washington grew it on his plantation. Thomas Jefferson found new ways to beat the fast-growing fibrous plant. During the 19th century, the psychoactive drug derived from certain varieties of the plant was often used in medicines and miracle cures that claimed to relieve various ailments, including rheumatism and melancholy.

Cannabis cultivation was virtually banned in the United States after 1937, when Congress, in response to rising anti-marijuana sentiment, passed the Marijuana Tax Act in an effort to regulate varieties of the plant containing high levels of the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It was the start of an effective ban that has eased in recent years, following gradual decriminalization, but is only now beginning to fully lift in many states.

Across New York, from Sag Harbor to Ithaca, farmers recently harvested the first legal crop of recreationally grown cannabis in many decades. Some of them had been preparing for this moment even before March 2021, when New York became the 16th state to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. Shortly after the law was passed, the state began the process of issuing 261 conditional licenses to qualified growers, according to the Office of Cannabis Management, which regulates the plant in New York.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0 ">During this year's harvest, the operators of two New York farms took some time out of their busiest season to discuss the pleasures and challenges of a plant who is not...