Ball Family Farms is a Black-owned, vertically integrated cannabis company in Los Angeles, founded by Chris Ball and licensed in 2018 through the city's social equity program. It pheno-hunts, grows and packages its own genetics indoors, then sends flower and pre-rolls to more than two dozen Southern California retailers. In April 2025 it launched Rare Breeds, a program that brings underground strain creators into the licensed market.
The company's own line sums up the approach: "From South LA to the top shelf, we built this from the ground up—with no investors, no shortcuts, and no Plan B."
From the CFL to a South LA license
Chris Ball played for the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in the early 2000s. His route from pro football to a social equity flower brand in LA ran through the city's licensing program. Ball Family Farms received its license in 2018, and Rootwurks called it one of the city's first minority-owned social equity commercial cannabis facilities.
The business stays in the family. Chris's brother Charles Ball is a co-founder. A Rialto native, Charles played baseball at Cal Poly Pomona on a full athletic scholarship and earned a psychology degree with an industrial and organizational emphasis. Rootwurks identified him as chief financial officer in 2022, with cousin Michael Ball running the facility. In 2025 coverage, Oscar Figueroa is the cultivation facility manager.
A nine-month pheno hunt
Everything starts with the pheno hunt. The company says each part of its genetics is "pheno-hunted, developed, and produced in-house," and its flower is grown with raw and organic nutrients. In a 2020 Forbes interview, Ball laid out a nine-month cycle: six months hunting for standout plants, then three months taking the keeper to commercial scale. The grow combines living soil with organic and biodynamic methods.
By 2025 the method had a name. Cannabis Business Times described it as a proprietary three-medium cultivation process, and it is the system Ball Family Farms walks its Rare Breeds growers through.
A strain list cast from the movies
Ball Family Farms names its cultivars after characters. Daniel Larusso comes from The Karate Kid, Nino Brown from New Jack City and Clubber Lang from Rocky III. Bruce Leroy and Sho'nuff come from The Last Dragon. Rootwurks tied the naming to films with minority casts that shaped the Ball brothers. Earlier releases also included Miyagi-Do and Bonzai Tree.
The official site lists 15 cultivars: Daniel Larusso, Laura Charles, Nino Brown, Dragonfly Jones, Clubber Lang, Invader Zim, Deebo, A Boogie, Bolo Yeung, Keisha, Money Mitch, Mrs. Parker, Selenas, Ricky and First Draft. The Phonzie is teased as the next cultivar in line. Money Mitch, an indica-dominant hybrid, headlines the Fresh Drop page with Selenas, Keisha, Bolo Yeung, A Boogie and Deebo.
Flower bags, smalls and glass-tip pre-rolls
The catalog is flower-first. Weedmaps lists buds in The Bride, Bishop, Gelonade, Lulu, O Dog, Invader Zim, Mrs. Parker, Money Mitch and more, plus 7-gram Money Mitch smalls. Dispensary menus carry 4-gram and 14-gram bags. At The Ounce in North Hollywood, a 4-gram bag of Bishop lists at $43, or $32 for first-time customers.
The pre-rolls are hand-rolled with glass tips and filled with the company's own flower. Weedmaps shows joints under names such as Pookie, Ferris Bueller, Nino Brown and Mrs. Parker.
Rare Breeds and Hoodbaby's Invader Zim
Ball Family Farms launched Rare Breeds in April 2025 to scout, mentor and release strains from underground and legacy growers. The format is an annual contest open to home growers and licensed operators alike, with California breeders registering through the company's site. Selected growers get hands-on cultivation guidance, help with branding and retail strategy, and a limited retail release.
"This is about giving real growers a lane," Chris Ball, founder and CEO, said at launch. "For too long, the people who built this culture have been left out of the legal game."
The first Rare Breeds grower is Zak "Hoodbaby" Alkatib, a former Chicago restaurant owner. He went from trimmer to cultivator at Project Cannabis and built a name as a self-taught pheno hunter in the Bay Area underground. His Invader Zim crosses Runtz, Zkittlez and Animal Cookies S1. A test run sold out in 24 hours, and the official release was set for June 2025.
Cannabis Business Times covered the drop in July 2025 and reported two more strains, Pink Pineapples and Yellow Diamonds, in trial runs. Invader Zim is on the official strain list and on the brand's Weedmaps menu.
Where Ball Family Farms sells in 2026
In 2020, Forbes counted Ball Family Farms in more than 30 dispensaries, with a goal of 100 California doors. The 2026 store finder lists 26 retailers across Southern California. STIIIZY carries the brand at most of its locations, and the list includes Backpack Boyz LA, Zz Flux in downtown LA, Mid City and West Hollywood, and Cakehouse in Corona and El Monte.
The roster also runs through The Cake House in Wildomar, Sessions in San Diego, The Ounce in North Hollywood, Big Chief in Silver Lake, Goat Global in Westwood, Plant Galaxy in Riverside, Higher Ground in San Bernardino and The Reefer Shop in San Jacinto. Chris Ball leads the company as founder and CEO.
For adults 21 and over.