MONTPELIER — Cannabis cultivators feel the market is currently oversaturated.
"It is getting crowded in the grow community," said Tito Bern, cultivator and owner of the Bern Gallery in Burlington, "and it feels like it's time to cap those higher license tiers."
Owners of Bushy Beard Cultivation, Island Craft Cannabis, Doh Yey Smokieez, Pressure Lab Cultivation and Rootland Cannabis echoed the sentiment at the CCB meeting on Jan. 31.
"We all keep hoping that it's going to get better," said Nick Smith, co-owner of the cultivation company Emerald Visions in Alburgh, "but I know we all thought that it was just like end of year, people didn't want to add any more to the inventory in December, but it keeps getting pushed on week after week."
Retailers are saying they're sitting on "way too much flower" and seeing a dozen cultivators come through their doors daily trying to initiate sales, Smith said.
"They're having to unfortunately turn them down and there's quite a few people in desperate situations," Smith said. "And I know I'm not the only person that really is feeling the pain right now."
If outdoor conditions had been better this year, Smith suggested there would be twice as much saturation and even more cultivators not renewing licenses.
"This is going to happen every year," said Dave Silberman, co-founder of the Flora Cannabis shop in Middlebury and attorney. "We're going to hit the low point in the market right about now. That's going to hit when the outdoor stuff is hitting the market."
Silberman urged cultivators to hold on and not to panic, noting there's a bill being considered now in the Legislature related to a license moratorium. Capping all licenses for now would be "a great move," said Nate Richardson, owner of Pressure Lab Cultivation.
Jane Lanza, co-founder of Family Tree Hemp Company in Burlington, said retailers are doing their own cultivation and manufacturing. She wondered if the Legislature might allow growers to sell directly to consumers so farmers might "catch up."
Eli Harrington of Vermontijuana suggested carving out a special niche for independent cultivators if they were allowed to sell at special events or farmers markets.
"The Legislature meets for a very short amount of time each year and I think a lot of what you're hearing, a lot of those repeat comments, themes, are things that we really don't have a lot of control over but there's certain things that we do and so we always appreciate the comments and the advice and the kind of boots on the ground kind of vantage point that you provide," said James Pepper, chair of the Cannabis Control Board. "So keep the comments coming [and] certainly reach out to your legislators, both House and Senate, and let them know how you feel."
In October, the CCB cut off larger cannabis cultivation allowances to help shape a healthy market in Vermont. The board indefinitely closed the application window starting Nov. 24 for new Tier 4 indoor cultivation licenses, and new Tiers 4 and 5 outdoor or mixed cultivation licenses.
Pepper noted "a number of competing principles at play."
"Certainly," he said at the time, "our job is to create a structure that supplies the demand for regulated cannabis in the state. We also need to shift consumers towards regulated products."
Other goals involve bringing legacy growers into the legal market and providing opportunity for successful operators to expand.
All of this is complicated by limited access to banking services and insurance, Pepper said in October. He listed potential changes to the market controlled by the Legislature involve tax rates, special events, delivery, social consumption and THC caps.
Research shows about 1.3 to 2 grams of cannabis should be supplied for every 1 gram of demand, Pepper said in October.
"This moderate oversupply helps prevent there being an undersupply if there was a particularly wet summer and fall, if there's widespread disease, fungus, and also just to allow unsuccessful businesses to exit the market," he added.