Cannacurio #54: Cultivation License Ranking

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We regularly review newly added licenses and total licenses by state. These census snapshots show where the new licenses are being created and where the balance of power is from market to market. Our customers use this information for go-to-market strategies as it can influence their sales territories, trade show planning and marketing spend. The table below is a snapshot of the new cultivation licenses added last year by month:

Important Findings

• California is characterized by large farms holding many licenses – in some cases as many as 300. The licensing system drives farmers to stack licenses for their farms.
• In Oklahoma, a license can be purchased for as little as $2,500 and there is no limit to how much cannabis you can grow.
• California is heavily regulated with local ordinances, water and land regulations, and a functioning METRC system.
• Oklahoma is just rolling out its track and trace system after a lengthy legal battle.
• Michigan, as usual, comes in third place. Oregon is next, but they’ll likely announce a license cap soon.

We also have the drumbeat of news from Oklahoma as regulators plan to crack down on the black market cannabis economy. A recent raid targeted licensed facilities that were diverting state produce to California, North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Texas. An estimated 100,000 plants and over 2,000 pounds of processed marijuana were recovered in the raids. To add to the drama, our last state record was down 3,000 licenses.

The table below shows the total number of active licenses for year-end 2021, January 2022, and February 2022. The most notable change is the massive drop in cultivation licenses in Oklahoma:

Conclusion

Ever since Oklahoma began issuing licenses, the rankings have always been dominated by either Oklahoma or California. They are the only states with a double-digit percentage of licenses. That probably won’t change any time soon.

However, we see the burgeoning East Coast market slowly picking up steam and anticipate a thriving market between Pennsylvania and Maine. The most interesting development will be how New York City hemp farmers transition to growing cannabis for adults with regulatory approval.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up to date on these and other new licenses through our newsletter, notification and reporting modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these weekly reports in your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to learn more about how to access the Cannabiz media license database yourself to dig deeper into this data.

About the author

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations efforts. He has spent his career working with and advising information companies on compliance issues. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources markets.

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulatory bodies around the world as he and his team gather corporate, financial and licensing information to track the people, products and companies in the cannabis economy.

Ed graduated from Hamilton College and received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School.

Cannacurio is a weekly column from Cannabiz Media featuring insights from the most comprehensive licensing data platform. Check out Cannacurio’s posts and podcasts for the latest updates and information.