Sutter County bans industrial hemp, ends troubled trial with controversial crop

More than a year of controversy over industrial hemp farming in Sutter County ended quietly as officials opted to ban the crop in the aftermath of marijuana-related offenses connected to licensed hemp growers.

Sutter County supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to outlaw industrial hemp production and processing, decisively ending the county’s back-and-forth regulation of the nascent industry that, ultimately, county officials decided brought more trouble than it was worth.

A hemp program that took a series of public meetings and unofficial workshops to regulate throughout the past year ended unceremoniously after a brief public hearing in which no one spoke against the ban.

The lack of public outcry paled in comparison to the outpouring of voices for and against hemp farming that county officials fielded earlier this year.

“We were trying to work with the hemp farmers who were legitimate hemp farmers, and I think they took advantage and went the wrong direction, and that forced public opinion to be opposed to the growth of hemp in Sutter County,” said Supervisor Dan Flores.

Too much ‘time and energy’

After extending a temporary ban on the crop that was set to last through this year, county officials worked with hemp growers and disgruntled residents to devise compromises that allowed hemp farming this summer, with more restrictions and costlier licensing fees.

The lead-up to that change in April drew a packed public hearing where emotional testimony was spoken on both sides of the issue.

Farmers said the burgeoning industry was taking hold, signaling a strong year of farming that would bring with it a number of local jobs. Residents sick of the pungent smell and wary of the crop’s potential associations with the marijuana industry — of which growing, processing and sales are banned in Sutter County and Yuba City — called for an end to hemp farming.

Hemp and marijuana share similar qualities and both come from the cannabis plant, but hemp is grown with a very low amount of the psychoactive chemical active in marijuana.

The county sheriff, agricultural commissioner and district attorney all supported a ban, claiming law enforcement issues and six-figure losses administering the county’s licensing and regulations.

“We just can’t keep (spending) the time and energy, and what it has cost staff in energy just dealing with the problems this past year. They have other things to do than deal with the hemp issue,” said Supervisor Jeff Stephens.

‘Problems that we didn’t expect’

Supervisors at the time opted for the compromise, which permitted what may have been the last summer of hemp farming in Sutter County. Within a few months, suspected criminal activity was connected to each of the two license holders for industrial hemp, supporting the concerns of skeptical officials and exasperated residents.

Luke M. Wilson, a local hemp farmer who worked on a compromise with county officials earlier this year to allow hemp farming, was arrested in July in connection to an alleged marijuana processing facility in Sutter County where more than 40,000 pounds of marijuana products were seized.

U.S. Phoenix Management Inc., the county’s other licensed hemp grower, had about 14,000 suspected marijuana plants found at its Garden Highway property, according to county officials.

“There turned out to be problems that we didn’t expect,” Flores said. “Speaking for me personally, I’m in favor of hemp. I think hemp is a great crop that would be good to the economy of anywhere that it grows. It’s proven in other areas that it grows successfully. But here I think we had a few bad apples, to use that term, that have taken advantage of an ordinance.”

The industrial hemp ban goes into effect Jan. 15.

This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM.