Cannabis Cultivator Survey Edition 3

Wells Fargo Equity Research has released the Cannabis Cultivator Survey Edition 3 report based on data collected with Cannabiz Media in Spring 2023 through one of the most comprehensive outreach programs to cannabis cultivators.

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

After analyzing the Spring 2023 data, the key takeaway reported by Wells Fargo is that it is “still tough out there,” which shows that after three surveys, cannabis cultivation has not seen much recovery.

Key Findings

• Cannabis pricing continues to fall with very little profit.
• 59% of cultivators report selling wholesale flower below the average break even price.
• 58% of cultivators feel “bad” or “terrible” about their current markets (down from 64% in Fall 2022).
• Falling wholesale prices are reported to be the biggest frustration for cultivators, with burdensome regulations, and low distribution coming in second and third respectively.
• 19% of cultivators are planning a full or partial exit of the cannabis industry.
• 13% of cultivators plan to decrease cultivation over the next 12 months, whereas 42% plan to increase.
• 65% of cultivators plan to purchase nutrients in the next six months, with 45% planning to buy soil, 32% lights, 30% irrigation equipment, 16% extraction equipment, and 17% greenhouses.

Detailed Findings

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

Methodology

Cannabiz Media conducted a survey outreach program to thousands of growers and ultimately, connected with 400+ licensed cannabis cultivators in seven key US states including California, Colorado, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.

The survey was conducted via email and direct calling during March through June 2023 across a wide variety of grow environments (indoor, outdoor, greenhouse, etc.) and cultivation sizes (several hundred sq. ft. to more than 100,000 sq. ft.).

The 400+ responses that were 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’ll continue to survey cultivators in the months ahead to see how their sentiment and economics change. Both this survey and the Fall 2022 survey provide a solid foundation for future studies and trend analyses.

About the 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 multi-jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental, and human resource markets.  

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators across the globe as he and his team gather corporate, financial, and license information to track the people, products, and businesses in the cannabis economy.  

Ed graduated from Hamilton College and received his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

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