Santa Maria Times reports
An ordinance regulating the cultivation of hemp — the nonpsychoactive cousin of cannabis — in Santa Barbara County is scheduled to be introduced at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, giving area farmers a long-awaited avenue to grow the “new” agricultural product.
If approved as submitted, the ordinance will return to the board for a second reading and final adoption, likely at the Feb. 2 meeting.
Currently in Santa Barbara County, only colleges and universities can grow hemp for research, but the ordinance would provide farmers an opportunity to cultivate another crop, as it becomes increasingly difficult for commercial agriculture to be profitable.
Under the ordinance, farmers would have to obtain an annual license from the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office and register each year with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
One of the goals of the ordinance is to assure that farmers aren’t growing cannabis under the guise of hemp, thus bypassing the much more complex and stringent state laws and county regulations governing cannabis cultivation.
Full report at
