The Slow Road to Fresh Air in the Carpinteria Valley
Ceres Farms Gets Two Years to Install Filters That Can ‘Scrub’ Smell of Pot from Cannabis Greenhouses
Five years after the cut-flower industry began converting to cannabis in the Carpinteria Valley, a solution to the persistent smell of pot that hangs around schools, homes, and farms appears tantalizingly within reach — if growers decide to embrace it.
A study released this month shows that state-of-the-art carbon filters, or “scrubbers,” from the Netherlands can eliminate 84 percent of the smell of cannabis, on average, before it escapes through the open vents of greenhouse roofs.
But there are no signs that a valley-wide transition to scrubbers is imminent. County officials are not eager to issue a blanket rule requiring their use across the board. And, at $22,000 per scrubber and a recommended ratio of 10 per acre, it’s expensive to adopt the new technology, especially since the price of wholesale cannabis has plummeted in recent years.
