The solution state officials arrived at Wednesday was to cut way back on the number of licenses it would initially issue and to reduce the amount of growing space for each license.
In a unanimous vote bound to frustrate some applicants, the state Liquor Control Board limited a grower to just one license instead of the three initially allowed in rules. The board also reduced the amount of growing space for each license by 30 percent. Instead of the largest farms being 30,000 square feet, they will now be 21,000 square feet.
State officials called it the best of their options, considering they had capped overall farm space at 2 million square feet to meet initial consumer demands and applicants were seeking more than 35 million square feet.
