About the Farm

The Autumn Brands family farm along the coast of Santa Barbara County uses sustainable farming techniques, natural sunlight and pesticide-free cultivation. This means setting an industry standard with 100% no-spray cannabis farming and a commitment to purity, rigorous testing and hand trimming. This takes more time, effort, and attention, but it’s worth it to keep our flower pure. Autumn Brands is a woman and family-owned business that cares for the consumer, the community and the environment.

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The Autumn Brands Coastal Greenhouses

The Santa Barbara climate is perfect for year-round growing for optimal plant health. Tucked in between the ocean and the mountains, our family farm produces some of the purest flower in the United States. Our genetics are carefully selected to ensure strength, viability, and consistency in our coastal and balanced ecosystem.

Why grow in a greenhouse? It’s essentially the perfect balance between indoor and outdoor growing. Growing cannabis in a greenhouse is significantly more cost effective and sustainably focused than indoor grows, but still provides all the same environmental control and reliability benefits. Like outdoor grows, greenhouses can harness the free power of sunlight, but we are able to harvest every week ensuring we always have fresh flower all year round.

Meet the Team

As CEO, Hans is the Autumn Brands coach and mentor. Born in Holland and a fifth-generation farmer, Hans moved to the United States as a young adult and grew cut-flowers with his parents and brother at B&H Flowers until he took over the operations and eventually opened up to a new crop, Cannabis. Hans downplays his farming expertise, preferring to credit his exhaustive bank of knowledge and skill to starting his first farm, a small one, when he was 12 years old, claiming he was always allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. When not in the fields, Hans likes to race Trophy Trucks in the desert and down the Baja peninsula with his best friend, Peter and children.

He is a proud Rotarian and a member of the local Sunset Rotary Club as well as the brainchild behind the 93013Fund. His other community involvements include being a strong supporter of the local nonprofits Girls Inc. and The Boys & Girls Club. He and his wife Esther make their home on the family farm in Carpinteria, California.

Hans Brand

Chief Executive Officer and Partner

As COO, Johnny is the head grower of Autumn Brands that is dedicated to creating a natural ecosystem, cannabis that is PURE and can be enjoyed by all and a product that is always consistent. Many growers rely on harsh chemicals and organic pesticides to speed up the growth process. But Johnny takes it a step further by treating 5 ½ acres of cannabis plants with the same TLC and spray-free (100% pesticide free) approach as if there was only one plant. Johnny grew up on the family farm and learned best agricultural practices from his Dad, Hans. But after obtaining a degree in Agricultural Business from Cal Poly, Johnny brought a new and progressive approach to growing cannabis in a coastal greenhouse. He determined how to establish a natural balance on the farm that allows aphids to survive, just enough not to affect the cannabis output too drastically, leading the Native California ladybugs (without the spots) to come to Autumn Brands to lay their eggs voluntarily. The eggs turn into larvae and eat the aphids in their path. Johnny works closely with the team so that our genetics are carefully selected to ensure strength, viability, and consistency in a unique growing environment. Johnny lives in Carpinteria, California with his girlfriend, Madison and enjoys volleyball, skiing, and wake surfing in his free time.

Johnny Brand

Chief Operations Officer and Partner

As CFO, Autumn oversees strategic planning, marketing, compliance, legal, human resources, and finance. Autumn has been successfully navigating the unchartered waters of California’s Prop 215 and the Regulated California Cannabis industry (Prop 64) since 2015 and is a sought-after panelist and public speaker on the nuts and bolts of operating a licensed California cannabis cultivation business. In 2021, under Autumn Shelton’s leadership as President of CARP Growers, the Cannabis Association for Responsible Producers concluded a year-long negotiation and reached a historic agreement between the CARP Growers and the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis on a cooperative agreement for odor abatement. Before moving to the agriculture sector, Shelton was focused on a career in commercial property development and management utilizing her CA Brokers License. Autumn lives with her husband, Abe, son, Lennox and daughter, Jade, in Santa Barbara, California, and enjoys hiking and camping in her free time. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Italian.

Autumn Shelton

Chief Financial Officer and Partner

As CSO, Hanna oversees strategic planning, marketing, product development, packaging and sales. She led a team of 20 in the harvesting and packaging departments and has transitioned into a deeper focus of product development and sales. Hanna grew up on the family farm and learned best agricultural practices and sales from her Dad, Hans. Only a few years after graduating from Cal Poly with a degree in Environmental Horticultural Science, Hanna has proven herself to be a force in the cannabis industry. She is a sought after public speaker on cannabis cultivation and sales. Under her leadership, the company continues to focus on quality control, higher post-production yields, develop new pre-roll blends and increase revenue.

She is a proud Rotarian and a member of the local Sunset Rotary Club. Hanna lives in Carpinteria, California with her boyfriend, Elias and enjoys skiing, wake surfing and traveling in her free time.