A sunny and hot summer has brought a bountiful cannabis harvest to outdoor West Coast growers for 2024, an event described as a “harvest for the ages.” As local cannabis providers jump on the chance to increase and improve inventory, outdoor cannabis prices continue to climb. However, inventory changes may affect the market further down the road.
A Season of Sunshine for Cannabis
According to MJBizDaily, outdoor cannabis cultivators across Oregon are experiencing one of the best harvests in years, thanks to a sunny, hot summer with few mold issues.
Obie Strickler, founder and CEO of the craft cannabis cultivation company Grown Rogue in Central Point, commented on these excellent conditions. “A good season is judged by limited rainfall and continued warm days, which we’re having,” Strickler shares. “This is a huge improvement compared to last year, which was pretty wet – you end up with mold.”
The North Bay Business Journal reported that remarkably favorable growing conditions extended across California. Mike Benziger, a grower with Glentucky Farms in North Bay, describes it as “a harvest for the ages.”
“It’s the best season I could have remembered, starting out good and getting better,” Benziger says. “For five to seven days, we had buds triple in size.” The sunny, hot weather was conducive to long-lasting growth, extending into October and requiring shade cloth for plants. “It’s the first time I’ve ever covered my cannabis plants,” Benziger added.
Greater Yield and Greater Variety of Strains
As reported by the MJBizDaily article, growers in Oregon harvested nearly 5.5 million pounds of sun-grown marijuana in 2023, slightly up over the 2022 harvest but still lower than the 2021 numbers. According to Oregon Business, 2024 has already shattered those numbers, with 11.4 million harvested pounds.
In addition to a plentiful yield of cannabis crops, growers use favorable growing conditions to diversify and improve strains. For Sandra Khandhanian, owner of Moon Gazer Farms in California, this means balancing reliable old plants with experimentation.
“There are a lot of wizards out there,” Khandhanian states. “You just got to adapt.”
Rhea Miller, co-founder and CEO of Millerville Farms in Cave Junction, Oregon, has used the favorable weather to grow some of her more sensitive strains, such as Purple Wreck, an Indica-dominant hybrid with the parents Purple Urkle and Trainwreck.
“It’s just a gorgeous plant,” Miller remarks. “It’s just a very soft-tissued bud that’s very fragile.”
The Broader Impacts on the Cannabis Industry
While growers celebrate a bountiful harvest, the season of plentiful cannabis is shadowed by possible downsides. An unusually productive growing season could lead to a supply glut, dropping wholesale prices.
Across the California industry, the wholesale price per pound for indoor, premium, large-bud has dropped by over 23% yearly to $942, as North Bay Business Journal reported. However, the price for outdoor-grown buds has increased by over 50% in the last year, climbing to $462 per pound.
For Oregon, Obie Strickler of Grown Rogue claims to have heard from fellow growers that the market for the product has reached around $350 per pound.
“The pricing range is based on the volume,” Strickler notes. “We prepare for $200 pounds in terms of cost and forecasting; we are excited at $400, and everything is nice if you can get $500 to $600.”
As cannabis production rides the wave of a bountiful harvest season, growing supplies may further impact these prices. With other influencing factors, such as taxation and shifting regulations, cannabis growers enjoy their windfall as they brace for what changes may come in this evolving market.
