Cannabis Cultivator Survey

Cannabiz Media worked with Wells Fargo’s Equity Research team to conduct one of the most comprehensive outreach programs to cannabis cultivators. We reached out to thousands of growers to develop a list of ~500 licensed cannabis cultivators across six states. They were reached via email and telephone surveys.  

The key takeaway for Wells Fargo is that “this recovery will take longer” and it has implications for the hydroponic sector for the second half of 2022. Wells Fargo has downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle Grow to Equal weight and lowered price targets on Grow Generation and Hydrofarm Holdings Group.

Key Findings

• Declining pricing is causing the most frustration for growers
• 62% of cultivators feel “bad” or “terrible” about their current markets.
• 27% of respondents said they were planning on a partial or full exit.
• Cultivators indicated they have plans to purchase soil (61%) and nutrients (73%), but just 32% have plans to purchase lighting.
• Sentiment is low across the board with some variation by state.
• Most growers are not expecting   things to improve in the near term.

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Detailed Findings

We have highlighted a few of the 129 exhibits from the complete report focusing on sentiment, likelihood to exit, and major causes of frustration. You can download the entire report here.

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Methodology

We conducted a survey outreach program to thousands of growers, ultimately connecting with 490 licensed cannabis cultivators in six key US states including California, Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington. 

The survey was conducted via email and direct calling over the course of January to May 2022 and across a wide array of grow environments (indoor, outdoor, greenhouse etc.) and cultivation sizes (several hundred sq. ft to more than 100,000 sq. ft). 

Of the 490 total responses received, 145 were from California, 17 from Colorado, six from Michigan, 209 from Oklahoma, 51 from Oregon, and 62 from Washington — representative of the largest cannabis markets today.  

You can download the entire report here.

Next Steps

We will continue to survey cultivators in the months ahead to see how their outlook and economics are changing.  This initial survey builds a strong foundation for future longitudinal studies.  

Author

Ed Keating is a 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 in the compliance space. Ed has managed product, marketing, and sales while overseeing complex multijurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental, and human resource markets.  

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