Legal cannabis is America’s sixth largest source of income
Prepare to spend far less percent of your income on cannabis as legalization spreads and prices fall.
Cannabis prices have plummeted despite a year of historic inflation, according to the new 2022 Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report released today. Adult cannabis growers in the US grew 554 tonnes more cannabis in 2022 than the year before. Even so, the value of the crop fell by $1 billion. That’s because legalization drives down the price of pot. Large-scale farming and high technology have pushed wholesale prices in Colorado to historic lows this summer. Flower grams can be sold in Oregon for $4.
Prices promise to fall further. In summary, according to the report, we’re only a quarter out of prohibition.
Download the Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2022
How much legal weed is growing in the US?
How much legal weed is growing in the US? It’s a big and nebulous question.
Gallup reports that about 68% of Americans are willing to end the 85-year-old war on marijuana and switch to a regulated system. But so far not a single regulator or politician can give you a progress report on this transition. leaves can.
According to the second annual Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2022, cannabis growers for adult use grew by 2,834 tons last year. Based on state usage surveys, 2,834 tons accounts for only about a quarter of Americans’ annual demand for marijuana. So we’re only 24% out of the disastrous, failed Prohibition. To get out, the remaining Prohibition states as well as Congress will legalize, and it will take your vote.
The Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2022 finds that weed farmers in the western US have generally overgrown in the last year. Meanwhile, farmers in the Midwest and East were not growing enough to meet their region’s needs. Because of the state ban, licensed farmers cannot sell across interstate lines. However, the illegal market does. This dynamic is hurting legal western farmers while overcharging customers in the Midwest and East Coast. Illinois and Maine residents, for example, pay some of the highest prices for marijuana in the country. Colorado, Oregon and Californians pay some of the lowest rates.
Our results suggest that Congress must do the will of 68% of voters and deliver cannabis reform legislation to President Biden this year. Americans want to vote their dollars for craft, traditional, and sustainable cannabis, but they can’t yet. Small farms fail and businesses take over with every day we delay.
Dozens of farmers turned out, reflecting regional booms and failures in the rapidly changing field.
At the Emerald Cup winning Ridgeline Farms, Jason Gellman watches as Humboldt County, California is rocked by the end of Prohibition.
“Prices this year are at an all-time low and frankly quite tragic for all craft farmers….
Jason Gellman, Ridgeline Farms, Humboldt County, CA
“Prices this year are at an all time low and frankly quite tragic for all crafting farmers. Many people will not be able to afford to keep their farms running. Our community as a whole is in dire financial straits.”
In contrast, Dusty Shoyer, President and COO of Revolution in Illinois and Missouri said, “It’s been a great year for Revolution: we’ve finally completed two expansion projects and added 10 more low-volume grow rooms in Illinois and a high-tech mini-grow in Missouri. Both harvest and produce amazing results.”
What is the methodology of the Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2022?
The Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report offers readers a free, one-of-a-kind summary of:
- License Records
- Report the total production of cannabis
- sales and tax reports,
- Commercial Price Development
- field measurements
- The 2022 Leafly Jobs Report
- US Department of Agriculture data
- and expert interviews.
Award-winning Leafly News managing editor David Downs and researcher Amelia Williams, along with Bruce Barcott, Whitney Economics and other contributors, reported on the findings. The team spent the fall finding the average price of marijuana in each state in the study, determining how many pounds were grown in those states, and then multiplying those two factors to get the value of the crop in each state — and up national level – to be determined. Photographers CannaPics and Mike Rosati Photography captured the trends that define cultivation and Sasha Beck designed the report.
We examined the 15 active states where adults over the age of 21 can buy cannabis like any other plant. In this year’s report, we also added the four states that started selling in 2022: Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Vermont. Excluded from the report are the medical marijuana markets and the illicit market, which would incorrectly inflate our numbers to include. See page 27 of the report for more details.
More quick facts:
- Cannabis is #1 for cash crops in three states, including New Jersey in its first year of operation.
- Wholesale prices in Colorado hit an all-time low in July.
- Regulators in the world’s largest legal cannabis market, California, aren’t reporting how much their licensees are growing.
Related
States in the US where marijuana is illegal
Why do we need a crop report?
Neither the USDA nor state regulators count the crop like other farms do. For the second year in a row, Leafly has only calculated the production and value of cannabis plants for adult use. We did this because voters and leaders need this basic information to make decisions.
Regulators in most legalizing states cannot provide the most basic facts about their cannabis markets, such as: B. “How much weed did you grow?” or “How far is the company from crowding out the illegal market?”
Thanks to Leafly, voters and policymakers have the information to make policy changes. Cannabis farmers can use the data to exercise political power relative to their economic clout. Why do tobacco farmers receive federal disaster relief while licensed cannabis farmers cannot?
Essentially, cannabis is an agricultural product. Seeing it through this realistic lens makes the problem much clearer. Activists are using Leafly Reports — including the Cannabis Jobs Report and the Opt-Out Report — in local, state, and national legislatures to push legalization and normalize the cannabis trade.
Related
Leafly Report: ‘Opt-out’ cities encourage illicit marijuana sales
Download and share the report with your industry peers and regulators. We hope this will stimulate further research and better data collection. We will also have updates forecasting oversupply in Michigan and enforcement in Oklahoma, Oregon and California in the coming weeks.
Contact us at news@leafly.com with questions, corrections, clarifications and more.
frequently asked Questions
US Marijuana Production and Value:
Q: How much weed is grown in the US?
A: Adult cannabis farms in the US grew 2,834 tons of cannabis last year. Medicinal and illicit production is 3 to 5 times larger and includes some illicit inflows from Mexico.
Q: How much is weed farming worth?
A: Cannabis as a crop is worth $5 billion in 2022 and is the sixth most important crop in the US – ahead of potatoes or rice.
Q: How is cannabis legalization going?
A: America is only about a quarter of the way to legalizing marijuana in terms of the amount legally grown (2,834 tons per year) versus estimated demand (12,000-15,000 tons). Only 15 states will allow adult cannabis sales in 2022.
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