Cannacurio #83: Growing Leaderboards for Q3 2023

Be the first to know when new content like this becomes available!

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive notifications of new posts, local news and industry insights.

Thank you very much! Your submission has been received!

Oops! An error occurred while submitting the form.

Following on from our recent review of dispensaries and retailers, we now look at cultivation licenses. These “census” snapshots, derived from our Cannabiz Business Intelligence platform, show where new licenses are being issued.

1. The total number of cultivation licenses decreased by over 3,000 (-13%) compared to the previous year
2. Regulators issued 790 new Cultivation licenses in the third quarter compared to 635 in the second quarter (+24%)
3. 91% of new licenses in the third quarter came from five states: Michigan (57%), California (16.7%), Vermont (9.5%), New Jersey (6%) and Mississippi (2%).

The following table shows the quarter-end and YTD snapshot of new cultivation licenses added by month:

The following graphic shows in total active cultivation licenses. The total number of licenses nationwide has decreased by 13%, despite all the new licenses listed in the table above. Note the Y-axis scale.

Another insightful look at these changes is to look at the net change by state for the same period:

It is important to note that not all of these negative numbers mean gloom and doom. In the case of California, There are about 40 farms that have taken advantage of the Large Indoor and Large Outdoor licenses, each measuring 22,000 square feet or more than 1 acre, respectively. By the end of the second quarter, 26 had been issued, resulting in the conversion of smaller licenses. Only two were issued in the first quarter.

Beginning August 26, 2022 and at least through August 26, 2024, Oklahoma will no longer accept new grower, processor and dispensary licenses. At the same time, intensive action has been taken in the state against illegal licenses obtained through fraudulent means. It is likely that these efforts will continue and license numbers will continue to decline.

As we see every quarter, the vast majority of cultivation licenses are issued in a few states. Michigan, California, Vermont, New Jersey and Mississippi accounted for 91% of new cultivation licenses in the third quarter. In some states, these new licenses are contributing to an oversupply that is fueling the black market. Additional capacity lowers the price in many markets. On the positive side, the overall number of licenses nationwide has declined because some growers are not renewing or reducing their tree canopies; License moratoriums and fewer new licenses being issued in some jurisdictions.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up to date on these and other new licenses through our newsletter, alerts and reporting modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these weekly reports straight to your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to get more information about how you can access the Cannabiz Market Intelligence program yourself and dive deeper into this data.

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations. Throughout his career, he has worked with and advised information companies in the compliance area. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-country product lines in securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources.

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators around the world as he and his team collect 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 the Kellogg School of Northwestern University.

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