There's several grow 'companies' leasing a chunk of land a local farmer provides. The growers work together to buy fertilizer, clones, hoses, drying equipment, etc. During the grow period a couple guys can turn the water on/off, operate the light deprivation hoop houses, manage the guard cameras, so everyone doesn't have to be there 24/7. I'm thinking at harvest time they probably use the same crews. The local migrant labor finishes it's hop and apple harvest a couple weeks earlier so they're happy for the work.
I noticed there were several parcels that were empty. I forgot to ask him about it. Maybe people between harvests still plenty of time to plug more clones. Or failures.
The tax question is a good one I forgot to ask. I'll see if I can get an answer. I'm thinking the buyer pays the 'sales tax' and the grower has to pay an excise tax? On the total amount he ends up selling? So half of the $.40 could go to the state? $100 a lb is fucking nuts. I'm guessing in California you need to plan on growing well over a 1000 pounds to stay afloat let alone make a profit. Especially if growers are low balling to drive the less wealthy ones out of business.
One problem they were having, the tiers work according to canopy space. They have a smaller tier so less canopy space. They had filled their canopy space plus some. They were worried about the inspectors charging a fee (fine I guess?) for going over the set limits. The way he said it makes me think canopy space is taxed.
I googled Washington state 502 producers for information and found a lot of data posted by the state. Check it out lots of interesting stuff about how much money everyone is making or not making.
Besides the statistics the state also had a spot producers, processors, and retailers could do business. Depressing seeing all the low offers the trip out there was kind of like a punch in the gut. I've held out hope that at some point I'd be able to retire out of town to a nice acreage with good water, lots of fruit trees, with a 502 license. Grow the best and make enough to live comfortably.
Looks more and more like a pipe dream. My friend said something that really pissed me off. He was making fun of a 502 fuckup guy, saying he was still doing business the old fashioned way people used to do it in the industry. I'm thinking to myself yeah that's how you do business, a handshake is good enough. Now you've got to have a lawyer write up a contract, cover your ass because everyone is out for themselves. It looks like something I don't want any part of.
When they were starting it there was talk of setting price limits. A grower would get at least $2 a gram, processor $4, something like that. With numbers like that you could run a little farm and get by.
People think pot should be the same price as other commodities, it's not realistic. To grow reasonably decent pot requires quite a bit of time and $.
This thread makes me both incredibly happy and incredibly sad.
Happy because of the fields of ganja being grown legally.
Sad because of how it's being run and the attitude of the guy running it.
Your dream is my dream. And because of what I see happening, I can see now that I need to stay where I'm at and wait for it to become legal here. When the wave hits, I plan on being on top of it, ready to go the day I can legally grow. If you aren't on that wave when it hits, you'll miss it and forever be behind. Like you are discovering.
Everything for me hinges on what happens in November. If we oust our current guv'na and the "Blue Wave" turns things around in our state, I figure it'll be 2 to 2 1/2 years until we have legal grows operating. It'll be tight, but I can make that happen.
If the guv'na stays, it'll be 4-5 years before he bends to the will of the people or there is a veto proof majority in the house and senate.
There's already a semi decent proposal in the system for legal growing. I think the tiers are a little on the ridiculous side though;
plant numbers per year - 0-1800, 1801-3600, 3601- 7200, 7201- 10,200, 10,200 and up.
They need to change those number considerably if they want smaller guys to be able to make it. I for one would probably never grow more than 500 in year. Probably closer to 300 a year.