At least nine cannabis cultivation companies, including two affiliates of major player Glass House Brands, are at risk of losing their licenses in California’s Santa Barbara County for failing to control their crops’ pungent odor, according to officials.
Under a law passed last year, cannabis growers in Santa Barbara, which has more licensed cannabis cultivation than any other California county, had until the end of March to install costly smell-control equipment or risk losing their permits.
Nine companies that failed to comply with the smell regulations received revocation letters from the county dated April 3, local news source Noozhawk first reported.
According to Noozhawk, the cannabis cultivators to lose their permits are:
- Blue Whale Agriculture Inc.
- Bosim 1628 Management Co.
- Bronco Management
- CKC Farms Inc.
- G&K Produce
- K&G Flowers
- Life Remedy Farms Inc.
- New Generation Farms Inc.
- Pacific Grown Organics
According to state business records, the principals of K&G Flowers and G&K Produce include Graham Farrar and Kyle Kazan, Glass House’s president and chief executive officer, respectively.
Glass House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
As of Monday, all companies are still in operation. Companies that received a letter have until April 20 to file an appeal, Carmela Beck, program manager for the county’s Cannabis Regulation and Licensing program, told MJBizDaily.
Once an appeal is filed, another process that can last up to 60 days begins, she added.
Cannabis cultivation smell spurs resident revolt in Santa Barbara County
With its mild climate, ample available agricultural land and proximity to cannabis retail in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara became the hotspot for California cannabis cultivation following adult-use legalization in 2016.
But as companies flocking to the area prompted thousands of complaints over the past few years from residents upset with the stench from massive outdoor or greenhouse cannabis operations.
Several major companies cultivate in Santa Barbara County.
These include publicly traded giant Glass House Brands, which advocated against what company officials argued were overly punitive smell-country measures.
Under a law passed last year, cannabis cultivators were required to purchase “carbon scrubbers” that supposedly reduce the smell by 84%, according to Noozhawk.
However, at $22,000 per machine and with a recommendation to install 10 machines per acre of canopy, the “preferred” brand is expensive, the news source added.
As of last month, 11 of the county’s 25 licensed indoor and greenhouse farms had installed the scrubbers.
Eight more requested an extension, which county supervisors last month denied, Noozhawk reported.
Glass House is preparing for marijuana rescheduling, million-pound production
The specter of losing its county cultivation permits is the latest headache for vertically integrated Glass House, which also runs retail in California and is by repute one of the biggest growers in the country.
The company posted a net loss of $29 million in its most recent annual report after the company’s wholesale production tumbled in the second half of 2025.
That downturn followed high-profile Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at Glass House greenhouses in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California, on July 10.
No charges have been filed, and no cannabis was seized, but authorities arrested more than 360 allegedly undocumented workers, officials said at the time.
However, in January, the company added to its board of directors Alison Payne, the chief marketing officer of Heineken USA, as part of the company’s preparation “for the rescheduling of cannabis,” Kazan said in a statement at the time.
And before the complication of its Santa Barbara County cultivation permits, Glass House set an ambitious cultivation goal for 2026: 1 million pounds.
Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
