Hello everyone I am brand new to this. Missouri as many of you probably know is in the processes of setting up a medical marijuana industry. I am going to try to get one of the 61 licenses. To apply there is a $10,000 non refundable then if approved a $25,000 a year licenses fee. We will be allowed 2,800 flowering plants for outdoor or 30,000 sq ft canopy indoor. I am going to start by growing out doors as it is the cheapest way to start. My biggest problem I have never grown before. I have been doing a lot of research and my father has grown in the past but that was 40 years ago. Am I crazy. Any help will be appreciated.
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Not crazy at all and I am super jealous! My goal is to ultimately make my living in the cannabis industry and your situation sounds like a dream! What can we help you with?
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What is a realistic expectation of yield outdoors, how many people do I need to help me take this on, and what strains would be best for southern Missouri. I am thinking of doing some autos to get some product to market to help with cash flow. And a really big question price! Prices seem to be all over the board from state to state.
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@hunter2800
Not sure about the yield or how many people you would need but as for the strains you might try asking the dispensaries about what strains they intend to sell whether its high CBD or high THC and you can grow for the needs of the dispensaries. Just an idea.
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I would start with a legal consultation about the application process as well a general cannabis law and company ownership. Itās the Wild West right now
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@sillyman I have had that same thought. My concerns with that are being a new grower and my ability to grow what they ideally want if it is a finicky strain. Another concern is with it being a new industry is will they know what they want. I am thinking for the first year of this if it is decent product there will be a very good market for it. So was leaning more to doing the bulk of my grow in something safe that would be easy to grow with some pretty good yields hopefully. Then doing around 100 inside and saving 50 to 100 to experiment with. Of course as I gain more experience I will try to grow whatever they think the end user wants. Feed back and end user input is extremely valuable in developing any product.
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" I have had that same thought. My concerns with that are being a new grower and my ability to grow what they ideally want if it is a finicky strain. "
I understand that concern but you will need help with whatever you decide to grow
With that said most any strain should sell
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Welcome, ive recently joined and can tell you that this forum is full of friendly and helpful people with stacks of knowledge and advice.
Looking forward to seeing your new adventure take form
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Do you have any experience farming? I would get to know local farmers it is hard, hard work. Sounds fun tho. You should also see if you can lease out your license to others. Since you have hard numbers on plants and a limited number of licenses you could make some cash that way as stay a lot smaller.
Yes @Clay77 my background is in agriculture. I have raised cattle and hay. My parents bought a feed mill when I was 11 and I moved up to production manager when I was about 25 and bought it when I was 31 and sold it a couple years ago when I was 37. I got burned out. I also helped farmers with their farm plans. I was thinking of partnering up with accouple people to spread it out a bit but the leasing idea might be a better choice if they will allow more than one location.
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āgrowing outdoors is cheaperā ???.. u have a lot more research to do,
maybe start with business, move to gardening, then research commercial cannabis growing.!
this is not going to end well, use that $100,000 and invest in what u know.!!
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Honestly man Iād do my best to get a license especially if your State is only going to issue 61. I would say there is a high probability that they will also hassle the hell out of legal farmers. That thing could be worth a LOT of money.
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@SlowOldGuy what am I missing. To grow in scale inside I would have to build a building buy at minimum 200 lights, Install a HAVAC system, and I am sure much more. Also the monthly electric bill would be over 5 grand a month probably closer to 10.
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Hi there,
We do not support commercial grow ops here at ILGM. We do however have a team of consultants available for live chat and design support etc.
Fees for a consult start at $300.00 us and up to $3500.00 to get started for an ongoing contract. We can provide on site consulting as well if you get that far.
I will give you one free piece of advice. Outdoor cheap growing will no manifest into successful medical marijuana. You will spend a lot or not have a good crop and in the end if you fail the quality assurance testing necessary for MMJ, you are left with a bunch of useless organic material.
Matty; I have this one from now on. Thanks 
latewood - ILGM Administrator
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People think they can just jump into Medical Marijuana farming and make money. A farm manager goes for 60,000-120,000 per year salary. Not to mention; States with medical that then go recreational, kills the farmer. IN Washington state, you can buy a pound of top line MMJ for 200 an LB. Not much profit in that.
And; n I the state decides to follow Canadian guidelines and outlaw anything that would be ingested; isolates, edibles, basically anything past a topical medicineā¦You are screwed!
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I honestly think that the U.S. Government will go recreational before Missouri will. Missouri can not go the route of Canada without changing the State Constitution. When we legalized it is very set out on what the state is required to do. The people who wrote up this amendment took lessons from what other places have done and what the State and local governments have done to try and stop it. A town can not even stand in your way if you want to put in a dispensary, processing facility, or cultivating. They can make you use certain areas of town threw zonings but can not stop you or create a new zone just for you. I see it says you are a USDA grower. Are you growing cannabis. If so how does that work with it stil being a class 1 drug at the Federal level.
yes, the initial set up would cost more, but a massive outdoor grow is far from free.!!
the biggest outdoor cost would come from crop devastation,
what happens when u spend $100,000 on a grow that gets killed by pests or weather or thieves or federal govā¦???
the next year will require another 100k to grow, r u gonna have 200k in reserve.?
100k per year i think is being conservative, assuming u will tend to most aspects of the grow and the property is paid for.!
even if all plants finish, there may be extensive tests to pass,
most ālegalā states reject the whole crop if they find problems with any of the product,
this is why other states and countries r flooded with āCaliā bud.! (product that canāt be sold in Cali)
not trying to be rude, just trying to help u make a wise decision,
the wisest thing would be to become familiar with the depth of the pool BEFORE diving in.!!
research, research, research, as much hands on experience as possible, and more research.!
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@SlowOldGuy Do not worry about coming across as rude with me I have thick skin and nothing you have said come across as rude at all it is giving me some things to think about. And once I have gotten more infromation and when the regulations come out I will look into talking with some of the consultants. What do you think of using something like hoop houses. With something like that a person can choose either 2800 plants or the 30,000 sq ft canopy limit.
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obviously the hoop houses would be a medium set up cost with medium environmental control,
all methods have their pros and cons, what method to use depends on your personal situation.!
if u want maximum control, indoors is the way to go, but has the highest set up cost,
if u want free lighting then outdoors or green houses would do it, both have less set up cost, but they both come with possible environmental problems,
start talking with the consultants, the mayor of your town, state officials, and anyone else that may be able to shed some light on your prospects.!!
maybe even take some tours of other stateās commercial grows and speak with anyone there that is willing to share info (workers, owners, buyers, the governorā¦).!
just a pointer, do not ask too many questions at the facilities, try to invite a few growers to dinner or some drinks at a bar, remember everything they say, EVERYTHING, but do not write notes while talking, that will alter their willingness to share info.!
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