Survey of Cannabis Growers, Volume 3

Be the first to know when new content like this is 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! There was an error submitting the form.

Wells Fargo Equity Research has released the Cannabis Cultivator Survey Edition 3 report, based on data collected in Spring 2023 with Cannabiz Media as part of one of the most comprehensive outreach programs for cannabis growers.

The third edition of the survey report includes new and updated data from cannabis growers in eight key states, as well as comparisons to data from the Cannabis Cultivator Survey Edition 2, collected in Fall 2022 and released in February of this year.

After analyzing spring 2023 data, Wells Fargo’s key takeaway is that it’s “still tough out there,” showing that cannabis cultivation hasn’t seen much of a recovery after three surveys.

Key Findings

• Cannabis prices continue to fall, with very little profit.
• 59% of growers say they sell wholesale flowers below the average break-even price.
• 58% of farmers feel “bad” or “awful” about their current markets (vs. 64% in autumn 2022).
• It is reported that falling wholesale prices are the biggest disappointment for farmers, followed by strict regulations and low distribution in second and third place.
• 19% of growers are planning a complete or partial exit from the cannabis industry.
• 13% of farmers plan to reduce cultivation over the next 12 months, while 42% plan to increase.
• 65% of farmers plan to buy nutrients in the next six months, 45% plan to buy soil, 32% lamps, 30% irrigation equipment, 16% extraction equipment and 17% greenhouses.

Detailed results

The Complete Cannabis Cultivator Survey Edition 3 is a detailed 46-page report with 145 charts of data and analysis. We’ve highlighted several charts in the report below that focus on profitability, sentiment, exit probability and the top causes of frustration. You can download the full report here.

‍

methodology

Cannabiz Media conducted a survey program of thousands of growers and eventually connected with more than 400 licensed cannabis growers in seven major US states including California, Colorado, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

The survey was conducted from March through June 2023 via email and direct call across a variety of grow environments (indoor, outdoor, greenhouse, etc.) and grow sizes (several hundred square feet to more than 100,000 square feet). .

The over 400 responses received represent eight of the largest cannabis markets today: 104 from California, 15 from Colorado, three from Michigan, six from New York, 193 from Oklahoma, 44 from Oregon, 1 from Rhode Island and 41 from Washington.

You can download the full report here.

Next Steps

We will continue to survey farmers over the coming months to see how their mood and economic situation are changing. Both this survey and the Fall 2022 survey provide a solid foundation for future studies and trend analysis.

About the author

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 on compliance issues. Ed has managed product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-country product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental and human resources sectors.

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators 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.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up-to-date on cannabis license data through our newsletter, alerts and reports modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to get these weekly reports straight to your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to learn more about how to access and dig deeper into the Cannabiz media license database yourself.