Your State-by-State Guide to Cannabis Cultivation Business Application and Licensing Fees
Finding out what any particular state is charging prospective cannabis growers to get into the business can be daunting at times.
SUBSCRIBEFebruary 28, 2019
Noelle Skodzinski
Business and finance Compliance Dispensary News Legislation and regulation Medical Cannabis News Trending Stories
Finding out what any particular state is charging prospective cannabis growers to get into the business can be daunting at times. Some states make their fees easy to find and easy to digest. Others can take some time digging through page after page on various websites.
Note, too, that some states are not always accepting any new marijuana cultivation business license applications. Those windows of availability open and close at different times in each state.
With that, here are the cultivation business application and licensing fees for the 33 states that allow medical cannabis and, in some cases, adult-use cannabis businesses. We will update this post as fee structures change in U.S. state-regulated markets; let us know what additional application and licensing information you'd like to see on this post.
RELATED: Interactive Marijuana Legislation Map
Editor's note: This post was originally published in 2015. It was last updated in February 2019.
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Alaska
New application fee: $1,000
Standard cultivation facility license: $5,000
Limited cultivation facility license (500 square feet or less): $1,000
Product manufacturing facility license: $1,000
Concentrate manufacturing facility license: $1,000
Arizona
Application fee: $5,000 ($1,000 of which is refundable)
Initial registration fee: $5,000
Annual registration renewal fee: $1,000
In Arizona, medical marijuana nonprofit dispensary licensees are permitted to grow marijuana.
Arkansas
Annual cultivation license fee: $100,000
Performance bond: $500,000
California
Annual license application fees:
Specialty Cottage Outdoor $135
Specialty Cottage Indoor $205
Specialty Cottage Mixed-Light Tier 1 $340
Specialty Cottage Mixed-Light Tier 2 $580
Specialty Outdoor $270
Specialty Indoor $2,170
Specialty Mixed-Light Tier 1 $655
Specialty Mixed-Light Tier 2 $1,125
Small Outdoor $535
Small Indoor $3,935
Small Mixed-Light Tier 1 $1,310
Small Mixed-Light Tier 2 $2,250
Medium Outdoor $1,555
Medium Indoor $8,655
Medium Mixed-Light Tier 1 $2,885
Medium Mixed-Light Tier 2 $4,945
Nursery $520
Processor $1,040
Annual license fees:
Specialty Cottage Outdoor $1,205
Specialty Cottage Indoor $1,830
Specialty Cottage Mixed-Light Tier 1 $3,035
Specialty Cottage Mixed-Light Tier 2 $5,200
Specialty Outdoor $2,410
Specialty Indoor $19,540
Specialty Mixed-Light Tier 1 $5,900
Specialty Mixed-Light Tier 2 $10,120
Small Outdoor $4,820
Small Indoor $35,410
Small Mixed-Light Tier 1 $11,800
Small Mixed-Light Tier 2 $20,235
Medium Outdoor $13,990
Medium Indoor $77,905
Medium Mixed-Light Tier 1 $25,970
Medium Mixed-Light Tier 2 $44,517
Nursery $4,685
Processor $9,370
Colorado
New application fee: $4,000
New application for converting medical cultivation facility to adult-use: $1,750
Annual renewal fee (1,801 to 3,600 plants): $1,100
Annual renewal fee (3,601 to 6,000 plants): $1,800
Annual renewal fee (6,001 to 10,200 plants): $3,300
Annual renewal fee (10,201 to 13,800 plants): $5,300
Connecticut
Initial application fee: $25,000
Cultivation license registration fee: $75,000
Annual cultivation license renewal fee: $75,000
Delaware
Application fee: $5,000
Certification fee: $40,000 (paid every two years)
Florida
Application fee: $60,830
In Florida, medical marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) are authorized to cultivate, process, transport and dispense medical marijuana. A “supplemental licensing fee” of $174,844 was rescinded in 2018.
Hawaii
Application fee: $5,000
Annual licensing fee: $75,000
In Hawaii, medical marijuana dispensary licensees are permitted to grow, process, transport and dispense marijuana. The state does not offer a cultivation license.
Illinois
Application fee: $25,000
Annual cultivation license fee: $100,000
Louisiana
No cultivation licensing process. Two cannabis companies have successfully placed bids for growing permits awarded to Southern University and Louisiana State University.
Maine
Application fee: $300 per patient (caregiver model)
Annual cultivation license fee: $300 per patient
Maryland
Application fee: $6,000
Annual cultivation license fee: $125,000
Massachusetts
Michigan
State license application fee: $6,000
Class A license fee (500 plants): $150,000
Class B license fee (1,000 plants): $300,000
Class C license fee (1,500 plants): $500,000
Processor license fee: $300,000
Minnesota
Application fee: $20,000
Minnesota requires vertical integration, and has thus far licensed two companies.
Missouri
Cultivation license application fee: $10,000
Missouri began accepting medical marijuana business license applications in January 2019.
Read more about Missouri's medical marijuana industry regulations from Reynolds and Gold here.
Montana
Annual caregiver license fee (up to 10 patients): $1,000
Annual caregiver license fee (11-49 patients): $2,500
Annual caregiver license fee (50 or more patients): $5,000
Nevada
Application fee: $5,000
Annual license fee: $30,000
New Hampshire
Application fee: $3,000
Annual licensing fee: $40,000 or $80,000 (depending on geographic area)
In New Hampshire, alternative treatment centers (ATCs) are authorizing to grow, process and dispense medical marijuana.
New Jersey
Application fee: $20,000 ($18,000 refundable to unsuccessful applicants)
In New Jersey, alternative treatment centers (ATCs) are authorizing to grow, process and dispense medical marijuana. The state has licensed six ATCs as of February 2019.
New Mexico
Application fee: $10,000 ($9,000 refundable to unsuccessful applicants)
Annual license fee: $30,000 for first 150 plants, and $10,000 for each additional 50 plants (up to a 450-plant limit)
New York
Application fee: $10,000
Initial registration fee; $200,000
North Dakota
Application fee: $5,000
Annual licensing fee: $110,000
Ohio
Application fee: $2,000 (up to 3,000 square feet of cultivation area), $20,000 (up to 25,000 square feet of cultivation area)
Initial license fee: $18,000, $180,000
Annual license renewal fee: $20,000, $200,000
Oklahoma
Application fee: $2,500
Oregon
Application fee: $250
Annual licensing fees:
Micro Tier I - $1,000
Micro Tier II $2,000
Tier I $3,750
Tier II $5,750
Medical Canopy: $100
Pennsylvania
Application fee (nonrefundable): $10,000
Application fee (refundable if application is not successful): $200,000
Annual license renewal fee: $10,000
Proof of funds: $2 million, with $500,000 liquid in applicant’s bank account
Rhode Island
Application fee: $5,000
Annual license fee:
Micro-license (up to 2,500 square feet): $5,000
Class A (2,501 to 5,000 square feet): $20,000
Class B (5,001 to 10,000 square feet): $35,000
Class C (10,0001 to 15,000 square feet): $50,000
Class D (15,001 to 20,000 square feet) $80,000
Utah
Application fee: $500
Vermont
No regulated licensing structure.
Washington
Application fee: $250
Annual license fee (Tier 1, 2, 3): $1,480
West Virginia
Application fee: $5,000
Annual license fee: $50,000
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Arcadia Biosciences Announces New Business Unit Dedicated to Cannabis
With Arcadia Specialty Genomics, the company is dedicating a strategic business unit to the optimization and standardization of cannabis plant content.
SUBSCRIBEFebruary 28, 2019
Press Release
Business and finance News State by State: California Vendor News
DAVIS, Calif.(BUSINESS WIRE) Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural food ingredient company, today announced the company will apply its expertise to a new crop: cannabis. With the establishment of Arcadia Specialty Genomics™, the company is dedicating a strategic business unit to the optimization and standardization of cannabis plant content, quality, climate resiliency and yield. Arcadia Specialty Genomics intends to conduct its business only in federal and state markets in which its activities are legal.
With a 15-year track record of agricultural innovation, Arcadia Biosciences has brought new and beneficial crop traits to market through its advanced, proprietary approach to plant breeding and gene editing. With products such as GoodWheat™ flour and SONOVA® GLA safflower, the company develops high-value food ingredients and nutritional oils that meet consumer demands and improve crop outcomes for farmers. Now, the company will apply its expertise to the burgeoning cannabis industry, with an initial focus on the hemp market.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Plavan has been appointed president of Arcadia Specialty Genomics.
“Within the rapidly growing legal cannabis industry, we see enormous opportunity in – and demand for – improved plant quality, productivity, consistency and resilience,” said Raj Ketkar, president and CEO of Arcadia Biosciences. “With this new operating unit, Arcadia Specialty Genomics, we are uniquely qualified as a proven crop improvement company equipped to address the legacy challenges facing a plant that until recently was largely grown unlawfully.” Ketkar added, “I can think of no one better than Matt Plavan, an industry veteran with a track record of leading transformational market pivots, to lead our new strategic business unit.”
The recent passage of the U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 – also known as the Farm Bill – confirmed the federal legalization of hemp, the term given to nonpsychoactive cannabis containing less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It also included provisions for legalizing on a federal level hemp’s cultivation, transport and sale for the first time in more than 75 years. Hemp, previously considered a Schedule 1 drug and banned as an agricultural crop, lacks substantive plant biology research and suffers from sub-optimal genetics, highly fragmented germplasm and rampant inconsistencies.
According to Plavan, hemp’s newly legal status creates significant market opportunities for a company known for its agronomic excellence. “As we’ve evolved from an agricultural trait provider to a functional ingredient seller, we’ve developed capabilities and partnerships which will drive innovation and growth in hemp-derived oils such as CBD and other functional plant properties. As with our wheat and soybean products, we will create hemp-based solutions that allow farmers to be more productive and enable consumer packaged goods companies to differentiate their brands in the marketplace.”
The Hemp Business Journal estimates that the hemp CBD market totaled $190 million in 2018 – an astounding rate of growth for a category that didn’t exist five years ago. By 2022, the Brightfield Group, a cannabis and CBD market research firm, projects sales to reach $22 billion.
Arcadia Specialty Genomics will develop novel cannabis varieties possessing productivity, pest resistance and crop quality traits for license to cultivators, and for products serving the nutraceutical and food industries. These developments are made possible through a proprietary approach combining conventional breeding, Arcadia’s advanced screening and breeding technology known as TILLING and gene editing. Through this process, plant populations carrying desirable, high-value genetic characteristics are identified, isolated and bred to reproduce.
“Our ability to bring innovative traits to the market for some of the most complex plant genomes is unparalleled, and we’re excited to turn our attention and expertise to the critical needs facing the rapidly evolving cannabis industry,” said Plavan. “Our near-term focus will be acquiring federal and state licensure in key geographies to launch our research and pilot programs, for which we expect to begin operations in early 2019. In parallel, we are evaluating key partnerships to extend our capabilities vertically, maximize shareholder value and establish Arcadia Specialty Genomics as the leading science-driven company and genetics innovator for cannabis.
