BOSTON.COM | Cannabis passes cranberries as the state’s top crop

Massachusetts’ crop with the highest cash crop value is not what you might expect: according to Leafly, a cannabis discovery site, cannabis comes out on top of the rankings.

According to Leafly’s 2022 Harvest Report, the dollar value associated with adult-use cannabis products in the Commonwealth is $361 million. The next highest ranked is cranberries, pulling almost $66 million in 2021, according to the 2021 State Agricultural Review.

Legal cannabis distribution is a relatively new market in Massachusetts — in 2016 recreational cannabis was legalized through a ballot question and the first two stores opened in November 2018.

A lot of growth has happened in those few years, Eric Rogers, a consultant at Rogers Cannabis Consulting and co-founder of cannabis-infused beverage company Levia, told Boston.com.

“I think right now in Massachusetts the market is really starting to mature,” he said. “We’re turning a corner in that as the Cannabis Control Commission has continued to license new operators in the state we’ve seen an influx of cultivators. This fall is sort of the most significant crop that the Massachusetts cannabis market is seeing.”

The growth has its pros and cons, for both growers and consumers. Consumers have likely noticed a drop in sticker price for cannabis, Rogers said.

Read more here: https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/11/03/cannabis-passes-cranberries-as-the-states-top-crop/