Outdoor cannabis is harvested in the fall, which has been known as “Croptober” in the industry. This Croptober, cultivators across the United States are reporting incredibly good harvests. This year has had exceptionally favorable outdoor growing conditions, such as limited wildfire impact, no early freezes and warm days well into October all led to optimal growing conditions across the country. Jeremy Moberg, a cannabis grower in Washington state, also added that this, “was actually one of the cleanest air-quality years we’ve had.” And one cannabis consultant based in Boulder, Colorado, Van McConnon, said, “It’s been phenomenal … As good as any harvest we’ve had in the last 10 years.” While that normally would sound delightful, cultivators and processors are concerned that the massive amound of incoming crops are pouring into an already saturated market. States such as California, Colorado, Michigan and Washington have already been dealing with extremely low wholesale prices. This new influx of less expensive outdoor-grown flower could push prices even lower in the coming months, as those crops are processed and make their way into stores. There is a little bit of relief to this issue, though. A fraction of growers in some states like California and Colorado have opted out of outdoor planting this year, due to their states existing oversupply issues. This has reduced some of the competition. MJBizDaily spoke with cultivators and industry analysts in Michigan, Colorado, California, Washington state, New Mexico and Vermont to get the scoop on their state’s supply versus Croptober harvests. In Michigan, they learned that growing conditions this year were ideal for outdoor cannabis, yet prices for it are very low. One analyst said some outdoor growers might only get $100 or $200 per pound wholesale. Colorado growers often have to deal with early September freezes and snowstorms in some parts of the state, and wildfires and hailstorms in other areas. But this year has found mostly favorable conditions in the state, which means good crops and a lot of supply. In July, the wholesale price of indoor cannabis flower in Colorado dropped to an all-time low of $709 per pound, which was nearly half of the what it was last year. California growers have historically had to deal with a range of issues, such as drought, fires, smoke, and even overabundances of unexpected rain have been problematic. This year though, has overall been pretty good to outdoor farmers. Earlier this year, the average price per pound of cannabis flower was about $750 to $1,100 for quality, big buds and $300-$450 for smalls. But that was before the Croptober harvests. Doug Chloupek, the CEO and founder of Juva Life, a cannabis grower and life science research company with a cultivation arm in Stockton said, “The overproduction of cannabis cannot be absorbed into the legal supply chain, which has created the falling price of cannabis.” He also added, “The next two years are going to be survival of the fittest because people have run out of liquidity and the capital markets have dried up.” Some Washington State growers have said that for the most part, the weather this season has been mostly great, with a few challenges along the way. But as in other states, a pre-existing over supply has meant rock bottom wholesale prices, and because of this, there was a drastic reduction in what was planted this year. Hopefully those will help counter some of the oversupply issues. New Mexico also had a very successful outdoor season, and a huge supply of outdoor-grown cannabis is expected. This expectation has already dropped the price of wholesale flower in the market, going from up to $1,500 a pound wholesale ealier this year, to a current $850 per pound. On the positive side, though, Vermont growers are enjoying the new recreational market’s strength. Since Vermont is a newbie to legal recreational cannabis, the wholesale prices there have been close to $3,000 a pound on the upper end. Due to some early rains, some growers took down their plants earlier than planned, and others fought with moisture and humidity issues. A lack of supply in the new market, and these rain issues mean that there is still plenty of room for high prices. One insider said, “Everyone can pretty much sell whatever they grow at this point.”
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