Vermont Man Uses More Than 30 Ducks to Help Run Backyard Cannabis Business

A Vermont man keeps more than 30 ducks in his backyard to help fertilize cannabis for his business, but his neighbors and the city are trying to shut down the operation.

Jason Struthers, an Essex Junction resident, obtained a license to grow cannabis after suffering a spinal cord injury while working as a skydiving instructor, MyNBC5 reported.

Struthers said he grows over 100 cannabis plants in his backyard each year, and the ducks are an important part of the business.

“I actually bought the ducks initially to use them as meat. But I became attached to them too quickly and didn’t want to slaughter them all," Struthers said. "And I was also very new to the process and didn’t really understand it. So I just incorporated it into a permaculture.”

Ducks' manure can be used as a fertilizer without fermentation or composting first. Struthers said it was a cheaper and more abundant alternative to other fertilizers during the pandemic.

He also grows other vegetables on his property and sells them along with the cannabis and duck eggs, according to VTDigger.

Struthers' operation was classified as a farm by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture in May. In September, the Essex Junction Development Review Board decided he could continue growing cannabis, but the ducks had to go because he lives in an area that is not zoned for farming.

Meanwhile, several neighbors have raised concerns about the smell and noise coming from the property.

Struthers filed an appeal to keep the ducks, while his next-door neighbor Stephen Wille Padnos filed an appeal to have the entire operation relocated.

“It’s really impacts to us just not being able to enjoy our outside, you know, our lot. We can enjoy the inside, mostly. But if we go outside, then we’re subject to the smells, the noises," Wille Padnos said.

Struthers told VTDigger that he replaced almost all of his birds with Muscovy ducks, a breed that makes very little noise. 

“I’m not trying to have a negative impact on the community,” he said. 

His neighbors still think Struthers is violating the rules and should be held accountable.

"He should be following the rules just like everyone else does,” neighbor Stephen Padnos said. “And those rules say he just can’t do this thing in this location.”

The city told the station that the court's decision on the two appeals could take months, and the city could Struthers up to $200 a day in the meantime.