By Dalton Rosario
Long Story Short. At the beginning of 2019 California had 6,924 temporarily registered cannabis farms, including a total number of growers with licenses that are expiring at a rate faster than annual and provisional licenses are being issued by the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA). This spells a pending crisis in supply shortages if not rectified by the state.
Gimme the Juice! Of the 3,300 back-logged license applications, the CDFA has so far approved only 500 annual and provisional cannabis farming licenses. This means at best, the state of California will have access to 1,500 registered cultivation farms by the end of the month and at worst, just 1,000 based on the pending rate of license expirations.
So What’s the Bottom Line? California state regulators and the CDFA have a vested interest in the success of the cannabis industry and its stable growth. They are ramping up efforts to register as many temporary licenses as possible at a nearly 100% guarantee approval rate, so long as cultivators file a provisional license. For some perspective, only 5 applications had received licensing at the beginning of March, which had increased to 500 approvals by the 31st. With that said, at the current rate of expirations and provisional licenses being administered, by early May half of the current 6,924 temporary cannabis farming licenses will have already expired.
Click Here to Read More: https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/this-one-chart-captures-californias-cannabis-supply-crunch
