March 13, 2018
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In Part 2 of Cannabiz Media’s series about marijuana licenses in California, we’ll take a look at California’s cultivation licenses. If you missed the other parts of the series, catch up on them now: Part 1: California Overview, Part 3: Manufacturing, Part 4: Retail and Dispensing, and Part 5: Growth and Comparison to Other States.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is responsible for regulating cannabis cultivation in the state. CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing is a division of the CDFA. It handles the licensing and regulating of commercial marijuana cultivators and manages the track-and-trace system, which tracks cannabis from seed to sale. Currently, there are 690 adult-use cultivation licenses and 1,682 medical licenses in California according to the Cannabiz Media License Database.
There are several types of marijuana cultivation licenses in California which are based on two things:
The table below provides details about each of these licenses by size.
Of the 2,373 active cultivator licenses in the state at this time, small licenses are the most prevalent by size, and mixed-use lighting licenses are the most common by lighting type. Breaking things down further, the chart below shows the number of specific licenses by type and lighting from the Cannabiz Media License Database.
License application fees vary from $135 for a Specialty Cottage Outdoor license up to $8,665 for a Medium Indoor license. Annual license fees also vary. The annual fee for Specialty Cottage Outdoor license is the lowest at $1,205 while the annual fee for a Medium Indoor license is the highest at $77,905.
Based on calculations performed by the Cannabiz Media team, the total estimated fee revenue (i.e., application fees plus license fees) that California will generate based on the 2,373 cultivation licenses tracked in the Cannabiz Media License Database is over $42 million.
There is an extreme concentration of cultivation licenses in California with 55% of all licenses in just three counties: Santa Barbara (22%), Humboldt (20%), and Medocino (14%). More than three-quarters (77%) of all cultivation licenses are in just six counties: Santa Barbara, Humboldt, Medocino, Monterey (11%), Calaveras (6%), and Los Angeles (5%).
Of the 58 counties in California, 31 have cultivation licenses, and 90% of those licenses are in just 10 counties: Santa Barbara, Humboldt, Medocino, Monterey, Calaveras, Los Angeles, Trinity (4%), Riverside (4%), Sacramento (2%), and Sonoma (2%).
The 2,372 cultivation licenses in the state of California are held by 1,206 owners. In total, 833 license holders hold just one license each. Twenty-four license holders hold 10 or more licenses (double-digit), and one company holds triple digit licenses. That company is Central Coast Farmer’s Market Management, LLC.
According to the Cannabiz Media License Database, Central Coast Farmer’s Market Management, LLC holds 113 cultivation licenses, which is 5% of all cultivation licenses in California. One of the company’s licenses is a Medium Mixed-Light Tier 1 license, one is a Specialty Mixed-Light Tier 1 license, one is a Specialty Indoor license, 23 are Small Outdoor licenses, and 87 are Small Mixed-Light Tier 1 licenses.
Based on the license fees reported by the state, Central Coast Farmer’s Market Management, LLC would have to pay $1.3 million in application fees and license fees for its 113 cultivation licenses.
Cannabiz Media is tracking more than 3,500 marijuana licenses in its database, and 49% of them are cultivator licenses. In other words, marijuana cultivation is extremely important to California’s economy and the marijuana industry as a whole.
While certain counties are hotbeds for cannabis cultivation and some companies are positioning themselves to be market leaders, other states are watching closely so they can learn from the Golden State. At the same time, other companies are watching to see how they can get into the California marijuana industry and when they should do it.
Watch the Cannabiz Media blog for Part 3 of the Marijuana Licenses in California series coming next week. Part 3 will focus on California’s marijuana manufacturing licenses. If you haven’t already subscribed to the Cannabiz Media newsletter, subscribe now so you don’t miss it.
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