Barry Brand: A farming innovator with a long history of tradition

It is very exciting to see the innovative techniques that California farmers are using and the products they are producing. One such farmer, Barry Brand, has an eighth-generation family history in the farming industry. Originally, from Beemster, Netherlands, the Brand family has spent the last thirty years perfecting their farming techniques in California and Mexico.

Barry Brand currently farms from beautiful Carpinteria, California and is producing avocados on his 90-acre farm in this area. The demand for fresh, delicious avocados in the California area, and for export to other locations, is vast and Mr. Brand’s farm is responding to this need by growing Gem variety avocados. Additionally, in Baja, Mexico they grow cilantro, dill, mint, chives, oregano and other spices.

Interestingly, Barry Brand came to the avocado business after winning one of the country’s largest cannabis lawsuits to date. In February 2020, he had $2.6 million in cannabis oil and more than $620,000 in cannabis cash confiscated by Santa Barbara County law enforcement officers.

The District Attorney cited technical noncompliance, however Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge T. Anderele ruled in State of California v. Arroyo Verde Farms Inc. (Case No: 20-CV-00590), on May 15, 2020, that Barry Brand and Arroyo Verde Farms Inc. had broken no laws whatsoever. The judge ruled that criminal laws do not apply to licensed commercial cannabis activities and that everything had been tagged and handled correctly by Brand and his company. As stated by Judge Anderle, “the record here shows that a California licensed cannabis operator committed no crime, much less intentionally committed a crime.”

As lead counsel in the case, John Armstrong of the Horwitz + Armstrong law firm explained, “With millions of dollars at stake, licensed cannabis operators should not be at risk of losing their business because police mistake lawful cannabis operations for illegal black-market activities.”

Barry can be found at his farms in California and Mexico producing the highest quality avocadoes today and paving the way for future technologies and innovations in the farming industry