Hemp Grower reports..
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in a Jan. 26 meeting to introduce an ordinance that would regulate hemp cultivation in unincorporated areas within the county.
The ordinance includes a 180-acre cap on hemp cultivation and strictly prohibits cannabis from being grown on hemp fields.
Four out of the five board members voted in favor of the cap to prevent “possible problems,” NOOZHAWK reported.
“My impression is that there are good projects, there are bad projects, and there are projects that can be made good. I want us to preserve our discretion to the maximum degree possible, so I would advocate that we would establish a cap,” said District Supervisor Das Williams.
According to the news outlet, Board Chair Joan Hartmann was also in favor of the cap, but said it should be revisited when the cannabis market becomes more stabilized.
“We’re just trying to get cannabis on its feet and already facing a lot of market difficulties anyway. So why would we create this additional [illicit] market opportunity here in our county?” Hartmann said. “We’re at risk now. People can plant now. … We need to step up, or it’s going to get out of control. Then when it’s out of control, we’re going to try and regulate it, and then we’re going to have all these legal non-conforming uses, and then we’re back into a mess that we’ve already experienced on this board and in our community.”
The cap was initiated based on the 179 acres of hemp currently being grown in the county, according to NOOZHAWK, and the proposed ordinance would include a “one-year amortization period for operations that register before the cap becomes effective, which is 30 days after the second reading of the ordinance on Feb. 1.”
Aside from the acreage cap, the legislation would also allow the agricultural commissioner’s office and sheriff’s office to conduct surprise inspections and take samples during harvest to ensure the plants are compliant with federal regulations and test below the 0.3% THC limit, the news outlet reported.
Additionally, under the proposed ordinance growers must be the owner of the land in which the hemp is being grown or have written permission to cultivate on the site.
Other significant changes include:
- Farmers would be required to submit a $2,800 bond for each acre of hemp grown to cover any costs associated with the potential destruction of plants that do not test compliant; however, if the harvest is successful, the bonds will be returned.
- Growers would be charged an hourly rate to help cover the costs of implementing the program.
- Before flowering, male hemp plants must be pulled from the hemp fields to limit cross-pollination between cannabis and hemp.
- Individuals must post signage on their hemp fields that state’s no cannabis plants are being grown on-site.
