Annual Update: Challenges and Growth at Rocking Star Farm

Year three in the Oklahoma cannabis industry was a hard one. Between extreme winter weather and industry price wars, many local businesses didn’t make it to 2022. Things at Rocking Star Farm were no exception, but with the help of our dedicated partners and patients, we made it through to see a new season of growth and success.

Want to take a peek behind the scenes at life as a cannabis grower? Read on for a taste of where we’ve been and where we’re headed at Rocking Star Farm.

Winter weather strikes hard

2021 started with historically cold temperatures, and the arctic blast created significant challenges in February. Almost all grow facilities lost power and heat for a period, forcing many facilities to start over or close their doors forever.

The storms had a major effect on Rocking Star Farm’s quality too. It took over six months to recover from the storm and start producing top-shelf flower again.

Market volatility

If your cannabis business survived the winter storms, that was nothing compared to the storm that was about to hit the Oklahoma cannabis market.

By Q2 of 2021, the oversupply of flower caused the cannabis market to collapse, resulting in major price drops. In 2020, high-quality flower fetched $2,000 to $3,500 per pound. By the summer of 2021, prices dropped to $1,500 to $2,000 per pound, and by Q4, the price fell to $1,000 to $1200 per pound.

This great race to the bottom had us wondering why we saw such an oversupply. Several factors undoubtedly contributed to this issue:

  • 8,300+ Grow Licenses in Oklahoma alone
  • Oklahoma MMJ Industry is heavily regulated; however, OMMA wasn’t staffed to be able to enforce laws. This resulted in:
    • Out of State Product flooding in from California, Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado
    • Mexican and Chines Cartels establishing grow operations throughout the state
    • Plus, everyone with a medical card has the ability to grow legally
  • Big out of state grow established residency after two years in Oklahoma
  • OMMA delayed Metrc statewide database, and illegal grow operations and product flooded the market before the Metrc implementation started

Compliance challenges

Metrc was a big issue in 2021, and the year ended with a continued delay in implementation. Love or hate Metrc, there is no doubt that the right seed-to-sale tracking system will improve the quality of products sold in dispensaries. Illegal product is flooding the Oklahoma market, but Metrc would force all dispensaries to purchase from compliant grow and processing facilities, hindering black market sales.

When a dispensary purchases from Rocking Star Farm, the product is RFID tagged, and OMMA is alerted of the sale in real-time. The product is sent from our farm to a third-party testing facility, Higher Testing, for full compliance testing. Once the sample is confirmed safe, Higher Testing uploads the test results in Metrc and releases the batch, making it available for RSF to sell to a dispensary.

When a dispensary purchases illegal and unregistered/untested product, the flower or concentrates are never in the dispensary’s inventory. While the dispensary is licensed to sell MMJ from its storefront, the state has no way to track cash transactions that skip the register. Patients risk potentially unsafe product when this happens, and the state misses out on tax revenue.

Right now, OMMA has no way of fixing this problem unless they frequently inspect the more than 3,000 dispensaries and 8,300 growers, which is already a big challenge with limited staff.

Unfortunately, more and more dispensaries focused on short-term cash and not on building long-term relationships with local farms and growers. With over 8,000 growers, dispensaries can dictate the price they are willing to pay, and if the grower is unwilling to sell at that price, the dispensary owner knows there are 7,999 other growers that will. This has driven down the price per pound and forced a lot of really good local grows out of business.

If dispensaries are paying 50% of the cost for flower and concentrates, why hasn’t the price to the patient gone down by 50% too? If the farmer a top-shelf gram to the dispensary for $3.50, why is the patient still charged $15? Such markup is almost unheard of in any industry, and it’s something the Oklahoma market has got to figure out soon.

How can growers and dispensaries achieve long-term success?

After a volatile year like 2021, it’s clear that both grows and dispensaries can achieve lasting success only by investing in quality, long-term relationships.

At Rocking Star Farm, we’re so thankful for great dispensary partners that support our farm and value our organic top-shelf cannabis flower. Like us, these dispensary owners put their patients first and seek out the highest quality, organic, safely tested products. They make sure the patient has a clear understanding of where the products come from.

These dispensaries are paying a fair dollar value to Rocking Star Farm, which helps us pay bills, pay down debt, and expand the operation. That’s the kind of long-term growth and stability that will benefit both sides of the partnership.

In turn, we enjoy growing for these dispensaries and producing flower based on their monthly needs. If they need a pound of GMO Cookies, Blackberry Cookies, and Bubba’s Glue each month, we will make sure we have their product set aside. And whenever we release new exciting strains, you can guess who gets first dibs!

The return to top shelf

Although full of challenges, 2021 also represented a year of significant growth and progress for Rocking Star Farm.

Along with a full recovery and reset after the damage of winter storms, we began to see the fruits of several new promising strains — genetics provided by our friends over at 1902 Organics. The results were truly outstanding, with several incredible strains hitting the shelves at the end of the year:

These strains are rich, complex, and potent. Some, like Gorilla Girl, are testing at over 32% THC and 2.4% terpenes!

As the Oklahoma cannabis consumer market matures, patients demand higher quality and variety of unique genetics. Our new top-shelf products are pre-selling and selling out fast. Check out our products page, and if you’re a dispensary, contact us to stake your claim today.

Let’s get to work

Want to support local businesses and the future of cannabis in Oklahoma? It’s simple. Give your business to farms, processors, and dispensaries you know you can trust. Bargain brands won’t be here a few months from now, but with your help, responsible companies can continue to serve Oklahoma for years to come.

Check out our partners page for a quick list of our trusted friends in the industry.