 | Cannabis grower planting local good will
The president of Glass House Brands has pledged to be a good neighbor as the cannabis company takes control of a 5.5-millionsquare foot greenhouse south of Camarillo expected to become the world’s largest marijuana greenhouse.
The company recently bought the facility from investment company CEFF Camarillo Property LLC for more than $100 million.
Glass House officials said they’ll apply for state and county licenses to grow cannabis there as soon as the real estate transaction is finalized.
Glass House officials say one-third of the high-tech facility originally built for Houweling’s Tomatoes at 645 Laguna Road will initially be converted to cannabis production and the rest will continue to be used for growing tomatoes and cucumbers.
But as the market for marijuana grows—and with nationwide legalization possibly on the horizon— more of the facility will be used for cannabis.
Greg Farrar, Glass House president, said the Ventura County facility is ideal for meeting the company’s expansion goals.
“Santa Barbara is a beautiful place to grow cannabis, but from the climate point of view Camarillo may actually be one of the few places that’s even slightly better because it’s more inland and you don’t get the coastal fog and it’s a little bit dryer,” Farrar said. “I think we’re going to be able to change the game in California and eventually nationally with that greenhouse, and that’s super exciting for everybody.”
The plan to convert the tomato facility to marijuana production became possible after last year’s passage of Measure O in Ventura County. The measure said the plant could only be grown in preexisting greenhouses or warehouses in unincorporated areas in Ventura County. Measure O also capped cultivation at 600 acres.
The measure included a 4% tax on marijuana sales that will go to county government.
Farrar has his sights set on selling product across the country as it becomes legal.
“I personally believe that the entire country likes their cannabis from California, he said. “Most people when given the choice will prefer California cannabis, Napa wine, all in the same vein, so we’re going to be there to meet that demand when we can.”
But some residents expressed fears about odors from the facility. The industrial hemp industry expanded and then collapsed in recent years after leaving many area residents unhappy with the pervasive smell of the crop.
Industrial hemp does not have psychoactive properties but does have a pungent scent like marijuana, which bothered the people who could smell it.
Farrar promises that the problem Camarillo had with the overpowering smell of industrial hemp will not happen with his facility.
“It’s not hyperbole to call myself an odor expert because Santa Barbara County has one of the strictest odor standards anywhere in the state,” he said. “We’ve been researching and improving odor control technologies from Santa Barbara for longer than anybody else on the planet. And so we know the technologies, we know the techniques.”
Ventura County agricultural experts say recreational marijuana has the potential to become one of the county’s most lucrative crops.
“I think the stigma surrounding legal cannabis is quickly dissipating,” Camarillo City Councilmember Shawn Mulchay said. “I think as it becomes more mainstream, as it becomes regulated and we bring it out from the darkness and the underground, and we’re able to adequately regulate it, tax it . . . I think there will be less of a stigma.” |
Artist/Author: Glass House Brands
Date: Wednesday September 15, 2021 11:29:46 pm
https://www.theacorn.com/articles/cannabis-grower-planting-local-good-will/
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