On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to require cannabis farmers to install “multi-technology carbon filtration” systems also known as scrubbers.

Autumn Brand Farm’s partner Autumn Shelton says the cost of installing the scrubbers will be unobtainable for many growers.

“I mean, the financial impact of this is massive and it may put some people out of business,” Shelton says.

County Supervisor Roy Lee says failure to install scrubbers by March of 2026 will result in cannabis farmers losing their license.

“It’s just the cost of doing business,” Lee says.

One model of scrubbers, developed by the Envinity Group, is shown to eliminate 84 percent of cannabis smells on average, but each scrubber costs around $22,000, and with multiple scrubbers needed per farm, the costs will add up.

“If we have to go with the Envinity scrubbers, it’s a million and a half, at least, depending on how many scrubbers are needed,” Shelton says.

Shelton says she understands the community’s frustration and that growers have been working to mediate odors for years, but before requiring this new technology, she’d like the county to do more testing.

“It’s frustrating that the county can go and make a change that will create such a financial burden on the growers without really doing a study themselves by a third party to make sure that these, that these scrubbers can actually do what they’re going to do,” Shelton says.

Supervisor Lee disputes this, saying a study done in 2022 by environmental consultant company SCS Engineering shows scrubbers work.

“It has been tested by a third party, there is scientific proof that it does work,” Lee says.

A second reading of the cannabis odor-control amendments and a final board vote has been scheduled for April 1.