Which State Is Easiest? Starting Commercial Grow Business

[Fastarkid]

If my business partner and I want to start a legal commercial growing business to grow cannabis that is high in THC even over 20% of delta-9 (NOT just Hemp capped at 0.3%), which states are the easiest to get a license in?

What I hope the focus of this post will be is discussions about hurdles/obstacles and barriers to entry that the state will require us to overcome...for example;

• Florida is bad because it requires that you have had a nursery license that has been active for 30 years or longer
• Florida is also bad because it requires that your nursery have at least 400,000 plants in cultivation
• Florida is bad because there is a very small list of approved seeds/genetics
• Some states have reached their cap on licenses so you have to get in line which could take many years before they call your number due to limits on the number of commercial grower licenses allowed in those states
• How much does the commercial grow license cost in that state...Fees paid to the state can be too high (we will have a reasonable amount of money from investors but not unlimited)
• no need to discuss start up costs of setting up the operation in this post because the startup costs have very little to do with state laws. For example, the cost of lights, the cost of temperature control systems, the cost of fixtures, the cost of watering systems, the cost of CO2 systems, the cost of a fans, cost of greenhouses, etcetera. Besides, the startup costs will be close to the same in any state.

Thank you so much for your help !

 

[Bill284]

If my business partner and I want to start a legal commercial growing business to grow cannabis that is high in THC even over 20% of delta-9 (NOT just Hemp capped at 0.3%), which states are the easiest to get a license in?

What I hope the focus of this post will be is discussions about hurdles/obstacles and barriers to entry that the state will require us to overcome...for example;

• Florida is bad because it requires that you have had a nursery license that has been active for 30 years or longer
• Florida is also bad because it requires that your nursery have at least 400,000 plants in cultivation
• Florida is bad because there is a very small list of approved seeds/genetics
• Some states have reached their cap on licenses so you have to get in line which could take many years before they call your number due to limits on the number of commercial grower licenses allowed in those states
• How much does the commercial grow license cost in that state...Fees paid to the state can be too high (we will have a reasonable amount of money from investors but not unlimited)
• no need to discuss start up costs of setting up the operation in this post because the startup costs have very little to do with state laws. For example, the cost of lights, the cost of temperature control systems, the cost of fixtures, the cost of watering systems, the cost of CO2 systems, the cost of a fans, cost of greenhouses, etcetera. Besides, the startup costs will be close to the same in any state.

Thank you so much for your help !

Hello @Fastarkid hope you are well.
From what I've herd the Dakotas are giving away licenses for $2500.
Land there is the cheapest in the country.
It's basically the wild west all over again.
Good luck, happy growing Amigo.
Stay safe.
Bill

 

[WhamBamThankYouMaam]

Oklahoma if you are a resident. $2500 to start. You wouldn't believe some of the utter dumbasses that are doing it here. I had one call me all excited the other day "I got my grow license" He cant hardly read or write and thinks he's going to be rolling in the fat cash. "You can just buy all your weed from me" MISTAKE hasn't even popped a seed yet and is promising OMMA violations. He obviously hasnt read anything. I know for fact his mother filed out his paperwork and submitted it. He kept calling me saying "she needs to know what this means" BECAUSE HE CANT READ (he wont last long). So yeah Oklahoma may be the easiest state in the nation to get a Commercial Ops if you can get past the residency requirements and that doesn't seem to be a problem because there are about a thousand Chinese doing it that cant even speak English.

This is old information I think there are about 8000 Commercial Ops now How to get your Oklahoma Commercial Grow License.

 

[SmokingWings]

... which states are the easiest to get a license in?

What I hope the focus of this post will be is discussions about hurdles/obstacles and barriers to entry that the state will require us to overcome...

If I had to go through what you are talking about the first thing I would do is tell the investors that they have to pony up with their non-refundable 'deposit'. This will cover my time and expenses and that of my partner as we look into the questions and research the same as you are asking.

One thing I have noticed is that the easier it is to get a license and get a grow operation going the sooner the market in that area gets flooded, starting with the wholesale stage. Then the wholesale price drops and the growers are looking at how to get the product across state lines.

So yeah Oklahoma may be the easiest state in the nation to get a Commercial Ops if you can get past the residency requirements and that doesn't seem to be a problem because there are about a thousand Chinese doing it that cant even speak English.

And the thousand Chinese are actually working for some cartel out of Central or South America or sometimes even Russia.

Been a lot of that sort of thing in several western states from what I have read. They find someone who is the 'resident of the state' who becomes the business owner. Then they hire lower income workers for the grunt work with at least one supervisor per shift who can talk their language and tell them what to do. Then when the state shows up the inspectors cannot find the actual owners or investors since they never left their native country.

I had one call me all excited the other day "I got my grow license" He cant hardly read or write and thinks he's going to be rolling in the fat cash. "You can just buy all your weed from me" MISTAKE hasn't even popped a seed yet and is promising OMMA violations. He obviously hasnt read anything. I know for fact his mother filed out his paperwork and submitted it. He kept calling me saying "she needs to know what this means" BECAUSE HE CANT READ (he wont last long).

The fun will really start when the guy and his mother have to begin paying out for start-up costs. Then if they actually get a crop to survive all the way to to harvest they hopefully saved all the profits after paying off the bills. In the end hopefully they kept enough of the 'fortune' they plan on making because they will need it to hire a tax attorney who knows how to fill out the paperwork for local, state and federal taxes.

 

[SmokingWings]

Michigan has been allowing 'commercial' growing licenses for a couple of years because 'local' grow licenses were being allowed because cities, town and local municipalities "opted in" to grow operations. However, all these local municipalities did not opt in and allow sales businesses.

What we have is a flood of weed at the wholesale level that is being sold to dispensaries at the same sort of prices we paid the underground dealers back in the 70s and 80s. So if your question is about starting up growing Michigan might not be where you want to move. And if your question is about starting up a dispensary or retail sort of business you might not want to move here either.

 

[Keffka]

Michigan has been allowing 'commercial' growing licenses for a couple of years because 'local' grow licenses were being allowed because cities, town and local municipalities "opted in" to grow operations. However, all these local municipalities did not opt in and allow sales businesses.

What we have is a flood of weed at the wholesale level that is being sold to dispensaries at the same sort of prices we paid the underground dealers back in the 70s and 80s. So if your question is about starting up growing Michigan might not be where you want to move. And if your question is about starting up a dispensary or retail sort of business you might not want to move here either.

+1 on this statement. This is not the place you want to be as a producer/supplier/dispensary.. If you’re a consumer though you’re in big, big luck! 60$ ozs of 20%+ flower almost anywhere you go lol. I’m not sure how these places are staying afloat.. I assume they’re gouging on specific items that the uninformed are purchasing.

I only go to the dispensary if there’s an emergency otherwise it’s so hit and miss it’s rarely worth the trip.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Still a glut in Oregon so not here also unless you pick up an existing one cheap or something. Can get $40 zips here and not all of it smaller B type buds. Hard to grow it for that price even without a light bill if you using the sun. Still some higher priced gram stuff but I'm cheapskate, and the stuff is still decent or at least in my opinion it is.