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- It's Not How Big It Is
C’mon, I have a normal sized hand
Building a cannabis cultivation facility nowadays is an exercise in prognostication. It used to be that you were concerned you wouldn’t have enough product. Markets were always growing. The early adopting states (Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts) were breaking records year after year… until they weren’t.
Everyone thought that their cultivation was going to be the one to supply the whole market. Well, times have changed. Now before you start drawing you have to ask yourself -
How big is the market?
How much will it grow?
How much of that growth is from out of state?
That last one is critical. When Colorado & Massachusetts were green islands in a sea of prohibition people were driving in from border towns to get their stash. 420 was a big deal.
Not so much anymore…. at least not for retailers.
Photo credit: John Moore
And that’s the trajectory of every legal state. The only difference is the speed at which this happens. So ask the questions. Get good data. And be honest with yourself.
Are you going to be Coca Cola?
Sell in five years?
Or is this going to be a boutique shop?
Knowing the answer will save you a lot of headaches down the road. I’ll be talking about this and more at NECANN Maine August 12-13. Stop by and say hi. We’ll go get a beer. It’ll be fun, trust me.
Pound Sand
Here at SOW Consulting we like to ask the questions. I’m reluctant to say tough questions because I don’t take myself that seriously. So I’m introducing a new segment here called Pound Sand. Every week or so I’ll interview someone from the industry and get their take on a hot topic. Here’s one.
Why have strains like Sour Diesel, Blue Dream & Durban Poison stayed popular for so long while other strains come and go?
Here to shed a little light on this topic is none other than Steve Spinosa- cannabis industry veteran and all around good guy. I asked him this question-
Steve replied-
“I could easily answer this question in one sentence: The main reason these strains have remained popular for so long is the consistent experience consumers have based on the effects of these strains. It sounds like a short easy answer…because it is!”
I find that answer interesting because the overarching logic has always been to breed more potency into cultivars. But these three strains would no longer be considered high testers. I think this also points to the future. The high potency crowd does drive sales but that’s like saying Madeira is the future of wine. Yeah, not gonna happen. Flavor and feeling win every time.
OTHER NEWS
We all know that indoor grows generate a lot of heat. Why not put that energy to good use?
I’ve been saying this since the pandemic and finally someone is starting to do it. Let’s turn all of this vacant office space into vertical gardens.
If you know me you know how I feel about cannabis testing. The science is all over the place as are the methodologies and the whole system has created a new avenue for fraud. Here’s another example.
“Frankenstein was the name of the doctor, not the monster”
Thanks for reading,
d