“Without this vital tax break, craft growers will struggle to effectively compete against companies that operate facilities more than twenty times their size.”
New York’s multi-billion-dollar adult-use cannabis market will require six million square feet of cultivation space to meet the annual consumer demand of more than one million pounds of cannabis. While the intent of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA) is to limit “market dominance” by a few large corporations, there is a real risk that the state’s cultivation market will be controlled by a small number of large operators.
After all, public cannabis companies have access to billions of dollars in capital and are able to achieve economies of scale unavailable to craft growers, especially those led by social equity entrepreneurs.
Fortunately, New York has a strong track record of helping craft businesses in other industries effectively compete against large operators. Perhaps even more than cannabis, the beer industry is dominated by a few very large corporations. In fact, three alcohol companies control about 70 percent of the beer market. Nevertheless, New York has a thriving craft beer industry, with over 440 licensed breweries responsible for more than 20,000 full-time jobs and $3.4 billion of economic impact.
Read the full article published in Marijuana Moment.
