Plummeting Marijuana Prices for Growers

[JKD]

When agribusiness dominates commercial production prices will be cheaper to the average consumer. To an extent these consumers will dictate which strains are provided as that is how any free market works - if people want it and will pay for it it will be provided. As in legitimate business the 'mom and pop' businesses may survive by providing niche services/products that are unavailable through the commercial network... Because curing cannabis will take up a lot of space that would generate greater income in plant production it will probably be left in the 'mom and pop' domain for the cannasseurs - as with pure sativas.

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

Maybe, but I suspect big biz agriculture can grow pure Sativa's a lot cheaper then the current market. In fact I am sure of it.
It is not so much the Mom and Pop growers that supply the best viniculture, it is large well established Wineries with infrastructure and experience and a dedication to quality.
I suspect the same will be true for Cannabis?

-SamS

 

[JKD]

I agree that big biz agriculture can grow pure sativas cheaper than the current market - but I don't believe they will when they can grow faster flowering strains more frequently for a greater annual profit - can be done in greenhouses too with artificial dark periods. This occurs already in the current market with smaller scale entrepreneurs. Don't know if there will be a large enough market for field grown cannabis considering the current demand is being met more or less now without them.
- Using the viticulture example - They use the same ingredients but how many winerys are there compared to cognac producers?

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

It is not that people demand outdoor grown, it is economics that will allow outdoor grown to dominate legal Cannabis, maybe greenhouse grown where needed. I mean that I can grow and sell 1 kilo plants for $100 if I don't dry or manicure, and still make a profit. This is impossible for indoor under lights produced Cannabis, the production cost is at least 10 or 20 times what it could be. It is pretty obvious that Cannabis osmosis will find a way to produce high quality Cannabis in a cheaper way to fill the demand.
Professional farmers that work all day all year round just to make a small profit, do you really want to compete with them? As for cognac producers it will be the same as Hashish producers, less maybe but still they will compete for market share and need the cheaper wholesale prices to be able to afford to sift up the buds for hash. Cognac takes 10 of wine to give 1 of cognac.
Hashish is similar, water sifting can yield upto 10% the best dry sift needs upto 100 of dry bud to 1 of finished resin, so it really need kilos or tons at a cheap price to sift up super clean dry sift resin.
-SamS

I agree that big biz agriculture can grow pure sativas cheaper than the current market - but I don't believe they will when they can grow faster flowering strains more frequently for a greater annual profit - can be done in greenhouses too with artificial dark periods. This occurs already in the current market with smaller scale entrepreneurs. Don't know if there will be a large enough market for field grown cannabis considering the current demand is being met more or less now without them.
- Using the viticulture example - They use the same ingredients but how many winerys are there compared to cognac producers?

 

[BushyOldGrower]

Pot really should be cheap as tobacco in a legal market.

I am for legalization but as a cottage industry. While I see no harm in pot usage even among kids many others do. It may never be cheap and I don't think tobacco is cheap or good wine.

I think that whatever happens we all want change. I get a lower price than I once did but pot is only a part of my income so I don't worry as much as some growers who don't want legalization. I understand how they feel but pot is healthy like sex and we all need some every day.

If legal and cheap goes together though then why are cars so expensive? Nothing is cheap and the best gets the best price. It won't be grown and sold like Christmas trees Sam. There's no money in it.

Capitalism is a cruel master of us all. Let's end it. Bog

 

[OrganicOzarks]

There will always be bud light, and there will always be the Belgium import made by monks that sells for $25 per bottle.

Weed will be no different.

Yes most people drink shit beer, but there is a good sized market of people that will pay more for an actual beer. Hence the craft beer craze. I am not a fan of craft beers. I always drank imports. The irony of craft beers is that most of them tasted the same to me.

There is going to be cheap "bud light" weed that will dominate the market. There is also going to be "craft weed", and "import weed"(not actually imported-it is an analogy based off of high end prices). All will be priced differently, and all will have plenty of people willing to buy them.

The free stoner ride is coming to an end. It has been for a while. Anyone that hasn't seen it coming should have pulled their head out of the sand.

There will always be a way to make money growing this plant. The stupid stoner growing folklore is not that way. Science is going to prevail with this wave of industrial weed growing, and most of the small time growers will not make it.

Read, read, read, read, and learn as much science about growing plants as you can. If the book is about growing weed then you are reading the wrong books. It amazes me how little people care to learn about what they are doing to support themselves, and their families.

No more free ride lazy stoner's.

 

[BushyOldGrower]

I don't get that price...but that's what they retail my shit for.

 

[DirkDiggla]

Hopefully one day it will become legal in the UK, most weed over here now is sprayed or tampered with who knows whats in it. First there was the hash that was made of who knows what now theres the doctored weed. Legalisation hopefully would put a stop to this. Cant understand why people smoke it other countries wouldn't stand for it but it seems to be made especially for the UK market as people are prepared to buy the stuff. Untill the government does the right thing can forsee a lot of heath problems. Personally i think all the UK home growers are doing a public service and should be paid a lot more. Lol.

 

[justalilrowdy]

Pot really should be cheap as tobacco in a legal market.

I am for legalization but as a cottage industry. While I see no harm in pot usage even among kids many others do. It may never be cheap and I don't think tobacco is cheap or good wine.

I think that whatever happens we all want change. I get a lower price than I once did but pot is only a part of my income so I don't worry as much as some growers who don't want legalization. I understand how they feel but pot is healthy like sex and we all need some every day.

If legal and cheap goes together though then why are cars so expensive? Nothing is cheap and the best gets the best price. It won't be grown and sold like Christmas trees Sam. There's no money in it.

Capitalism is a cruel master of us all. Let's end it. Bog

Well said and in truth there will always be a market for excellently grown marijuana by private individuals just as there has been for thousands of years.
Microbrewing is quite popular.

 

[JKD]

Where I live tobacco could be a lot cheaper but they add a lot of tax in order to earn revenue but also discourage tobacco use - there is a fine line walked between achieving this and overpricing where the black market can then undercut with cheaper product... I would assume that cannabis will be treated in a similar fashion. Although alcohol here is still subject to tax it isn't to the same extent as tobacco as right or wrong its far more socially acceptable to drink than to smoke. I doubt cannabis will ever breach that social divide as effectively as alcohol regardless of legality.

 

[Ga farmer]

Quality sells! There will always be a market for the best!

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

We will have to agree that we disagree.
Why does Pot have to be limited into a cottage industry?
BOG, where do you buy your car, gasoline, food, clothing, etc, Why don't you buy them from only cottage industry produced products?
I want all Cannabis normalized, with no limits other then for safety.
As for no money in growing Cannabis like Christmas trees, it depends on what you call no money, you mean like all other normal agricultural crops? I wonder who grows all the veggies and fruit?
Do you think they make the kind of profits Cannabis growers make? I assure you that outdoor Cannabis not dried, un-manicured and sold for $100 a 1 kilo plant will make a profit, if grown like any other outdoor agricultural crop. This is better then most farmers make today with most agricultural crops, think about it.
BTW, cars are not so expensive, even new ones.
As for ending capitalism, I am happy to consider any alternatives you can suggest but doubt they work for most folks. I will stick to capitalism until you convince me you have something better.
I believe in capitalism, it is at least the best way in theory, in practice it does have difficulties, but what is better?

-SamS

Pot really should be cheap as tobacco in a legal market.

I am for legalization but as a cottage industry. While I see no harm in pot usage even among kids many others do. It may never be cheap and I don't think tobacco is cheap or good wine.

I think that whatever happens we all want change. I get a lower price than I once did but pot is only a part of my income so I don't worry as much as some growers who don't want legalization. I understand how they feel but pot is healthy like sex and we all need some every day.

If legal and cheap goes together though then why are cars so expensive? Nothing is cheap and the best gets the best price. It won't be grown and sold like Christmas trees Sam. There's no money in it.

Capitalism is a cruel master of us all. Let's end it. Bog

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

I agree absolutely, but the question is at what price will the best sell for? 1,000 a Kg for the best vs 100 a kg for swag? Or even less?
-SamS

Quality sells! There will always be a market for the best!

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

Do you have any idea what the price of cheap beer is? $1-$4 Vs Micro-brewed beer? $3-$7.
Now the same for Cannabis?
I am pointing out that the market will be flooded with high quality products at a much lower price then today.
No one goes into Micro-brewing to make a giant profit, can the same be said for Cannabis today?

-SamS

Well said and in truth there will always be a market for excellently grown marijuana by private individuals just as there has been for thousands of years.
Microbrewing is quite popular.

 

[Dkgrower]

I think buds would be old school and alot new concentrates and delivery systems will arise.

Smoking is a thing of the past and i guess that in a legal frame work one could look for other ways - E.cigs made with special flavors - taylor suite highs mixing of differnet resin profiles ect...

I dont think crude buds unmanicured would appeal to the masses they need to be concentrated made in to a quick to use item...

 

[G.Goo]

Supply and demand.......it all depends on your geographical location and what the people there can afford or are prepared to pay.....


....can be as low as $10-$20 a pound in SEAsia to $7000 a pound on the east coast of the USA.....quality differs from crop to crop and grower to grower......

3000 3500$ lb anything seedless with high quality back in ohio

 

[mapinguari]

I think buds would be old school and alot new concentrates and delivery systems will arise.

For sure, as people look for market niches.

Smoking is a thing of the past and i guess that in a legal frame work one could look for other ways - E.cigs made with special flavors - taylor suite highs mixing of differnet resin profiles ect..

Bartles and Jaymes, Zima, Tequiza, e-cigs...these are all pale imitations of the real thing that people try for various reasons. Yet we still have wine, beer, liquor, and (adulterated, nasty, corporate) tobacco.

Smoking will not be a thing of the past until fire is. And particularly as people become educated about the lack of respiratory and cancer risk with cannabis, smoking will bounce back in P.C. appeal.

I dont think crude buds unmanicured would appeal to the masses they need to be concentrated made in to a quick to use item...

My reading of BOG's comment about making a profit at $100 a pound was that he envisioned a system where he, as grower, passes on relatively unprocessed herb to a processor--a completely common practice in other ag, where prohibition doesn't motivate vertical organization due to security risks.

There are lots of possibilities, but I don't think it's very likely that flowers will disappear from the market, even as concentrates take a larger share.

 

[bayarea925]

My reading of BOG's comment about making a profit at $100 a pound was that he envisioned a system where he, as grower, passes on relatively unprocessed herb to a processor--a completely common practice in other ag, where prohibition doesn't motivate vertical organization due to security risks.

This has already happened in my world. I rent a dry room an go pick up from vendors wet. With the cost of the room $350 a month. I still make $600 more a lb from doing this.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

what is the price you are paying wet? is it already harvested and stripped of fan leaves? or do you go into their rooms and chop for them.

interesting concept for sure. i would envision that most mass scale producers might be selling wet as well...money to be made in processing and distribution. this is how alot of vineyards vend their stuff. a big corporation like kendall jackson might have 1000 acres of their own grapes for estate batches, but they are buying up all the local vineyards around them for their mass produced blends..

 

[BushyOldGrower]

A cottage industry for medical marijuana now exists here and it provides income for so many people that total legalization scares people. Why can't we have a two tiered system one for recreational and one for medical that isn't taxed or allowed to be taken over by big business.

Ya know that capitalism just encourages over population and nobody seems to see why both are the main problem. Everyone racing to the bottom. Who can grow the most weed the cheapest is gross commercialization.

It is gross and we are devaluing the value of life itself! Once upon a time most people made a living on a small family farm. Most people lived a simple life off the land by their own hard work or they starved. It wasn't really much like what we now think of as capitalism.

You want me to come up with some alternatives?

Ok...a new steady state economy that doesn't require growth to exist. Is that impossible or all that radical to contemplate? Wouldn't the priority of people making a living be better than what we now have? Maybe we will just move on to expand and keep growing forever like in the movie Avatar where capitalism steals their natural resources and destroys their homes.

We don't need a doomsday disaster to make us all come tumbling down with the actions of the gifts of this world.

Ya know I make a living and I live decent but most people on this planet don't. Am I just crazy to think how we do things is really up to us or that there are other ways to look at things?

This world is Idiocracy now and while it makes me sad to think that I leave this mess behind for my grandchildren it's not our fault. We have been lied to ever since we were born. The things we have been taught to believe in are delusions.

I am full of delusions but what this all comes down to on this subject is do you want legalization really. I think Sam is very right about farming economics but wrong to assume things can't be different. I hope change can come but I'm too old to do it now.

Nobody wants to listen to a delusional old man who just wants to return to an age before he was born. You can have the future. Bog