America’s first national-level agricultural
report on cannabis finds that legal cannabis supports more than
13,042 American farms and is now worth more than cotton.
Leafly Holdings, Inc. (“Leafly”), one of the world’s leading
cannabis discovery marketplaces and resources, today released its
inaugural Cannabis Harvest Report—the first look at cannabis crop
data, insights, and projections across the 11 states where
Americans can currently purchase both adult-use and medical
cannabis.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211103005368/en/
America’s first national-level
agricultural report on cannabis from Leafly finds that legal
cannabis supports more than 13,042 American farms and is now worth
more than cotton. (Graphic: Business Wire)
In partnership with Whitney Economics, Leafly’s investigative
team gathered and analyzed crop data from the 11 states with
operating legal adult-use and medical cannabis markets and found
that cannabis has become a major agricultural commodity that
supports thousands of American farmers and farm communities. Leafly
found that cannabis crops in adult-use states now support 13,042
licensed farms in the aggregate. On an annual basis, those growers
harvest 2,278 metric tons (5,022,990 pounds) of cannabis. That’s
enough cannabis to roll more than 2 billion joints, or fill 57
Olympic-size swimming pools.
That makes cannabis the fifth most valuable crop in the United
States. With a wholesale harvest value of $6.2 billion, America’s
cannabis harvest ranks above cotton and below wheat, based on US
Department of Agriculture data for 2020.
Corn $ 61 billion Soybeans $ 46 billion Hay $
17.3 billion Wheat $ 9.3 billion Cannabis $ 6.2 billion Cotton $
4.7 billion Rice $ 3.1 billion Peanuts $ 1.3 billion
Key findings from the Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report:
- In the 11 legal adult-use US states, cannabis supports 13,042
licensed farms that annually harvest 2,278 metric tons of
marijuana, or more than 5 million pounds of weed.
- In America’s 11 states operating adult-use and medical cannabis
markets, the wholesale cannabis crop brings in $6.2 billion
annually, ranking it as the fifth most valuable crop in the United
States. Only corn, soybeans, hay, and wheat bring in more money to
American farmers.
- In each of the 11 states with adult-use retail stores
operating, cannabis ranks no lower than 5th in terms of
agricultural crop value—often within two years of the first store
opening.
- Legal cannabis is the single most valuable agricultural crop in
Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Oregon, but remains
completely uncounted and ignored by state agriculture
officials.
- In Alaska, the state’s cannabis crop is worth more than twice
as much as all other agricultural products combined.
“The Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report is an unprecedented national
accounting of cannabis as a crop—and what we found was astounding,”
said David Downs, the report’s lead author and Leafly’s California
Bureau Chief. “America’s adult-use wholesale cannabis crop returned
a mind-boggling $6.175 billion to farmers last year, ranking it as
the 5th most valuable crop in the United States. Yet, due to
federal prohibition, America does not treat cannabis farmers like
farmers. They are subject to more state and federal taxes,
regulations, and stigma than any other type of farmer. These
barriers hurt small legacy farmers the most. This plant is helping
generate wealth, employment, and community investment around the
country, and our legislators need to recognize the opportunity
cannabis presents for Americans—today.”
Leafly has been gathering cannabis employment and sales data
since 2015 with its annual Jobs Report, filling a crucial
information gap created by a lack of data collection from the US
Department of Labor, which does not count cannabis jobs due to
federal prohibition. Similarly, the US Department of Agriculture
refuses to account for cannabis crops, and excludes cannabis
farmers from all of its programs, due to cannabis’ outdated status
as a federal Schedule I drug.
To complement and add depth to the 2021 Cannabis Harvest Report,
Leafly interviewed more than 20 farmers in legal states across the
country. They lend a human voice to the story in the data.
“My company LOWD has become one of Oregon’s premiere grow
operations—showing that cannabis is helping build generational
wealth and opportunity for all,” said Jesce Horton, a professional
cannabis cultivator who’s the founder and CEO of Love Our Weed
Daily (LOWD). “Black folks in particular have disproportionately
felt the effects of harmful cannabis policy for far too long,”
Horton added. “It brings me enormous pride to cultivate and grow
this plant and instead show how it can help heal and bring
prosperity to our communities.”
Methodology
Leafly’s investigative team, working in partnership with Whitney
Economics, examined the 11 states where adult-use and medical
cannabis are currently available for purchase. We counted only
officially state-licensed cannabis farms. Leafly followed the
USDA's approach, ascertaining production amounts for the most
recent 12-month reporting period in each state, and multiplying
that production by wholesale prices in each state to arrive at the
crop’s value. Additional information on our methodology can be
found on page 15 of the report.
To read the report in full, visit
https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/cannabis-harvest-report-2021.
ABOUT LEAFLY
Cannabis discovery marketplace Leafly aims to help more than 125
million people discover cannabis this year. Our powerful ecommerce
tools help shoppers make informed purchase decisions and empower
cannabis businesses to attract and retain loyal customers through
advertising and technology services. Learn more at Leafly.com or
download the Leafly mobile app through Apple’s App Store or Google
Play.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This document includes “forward-looking statements” (as defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Leafly’s
actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and
projections and consequently, you should not place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future
events. These forward-looking statements generally are identified
by the words “aspire,” “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,”
“forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “will
be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” “could,” “should,”
“believe(s),” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “future,”
“opportunity,” “strategy,” and similar expressions are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known
and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important
factors, many of which are outside Leafly management’s control,
that could cause actual results to differ materially from the
results discussed in the forward-looking statements.
Leafly cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
Leafly does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking
to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking
statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change
in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement
is based.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211103005368/en/
Laura Morarity pr@leafly.com
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