Episode Show Notes

So I had a conversation last week with someone who runs a small retail operation — just getting their footing in the Minnesota market — and they asked me something that I thought was pretty basic at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it actually isn’t. They said, ‘How do I even find out who’s legally growing in this state right now?’

And that’s the right question to be asking, honestly. Because Minnesota’s adult-use market is still in that early operational phase — legislation passed, the Office of Cannabis Management is issuing licenses, but the production side of the market isn’t fully visible yet to most operators.

Right, and I think that’s the gap. There’s a difference between knowing the law passed and knowing who is actually licensed and operating on the ground.

Exactly. And for anyone on the buy side — retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers who need raw material — that visibility is foundational. You can’t build a supply agreement with someone you don’t know exists.

So let’s start there. Before we even get into who’s listed, William, can you walk through what the grower-cultivator license actually is? Because I think some people conflate it with other license types.

Yeah, good place to start. The grower-cultivator license is an OCM-issued credential — that’s the Office of Cannabis Management — and it specifically authorizes cultivation activity. So we’re talking about the licensed production of cannabis plants.

Not processing, not retail. Just the growing side.

Correct. And that distinction matters when you’re vetting a supply chain partner. If you’re a manufacturer who needs flower or biomass, you want to confirm the operator you’re talking to actually holds the right credential for what they’re selling you. A retail license doesn’t authorize cultivation. These are separate license classes.

Which sounds obvious when you say it out loud, but I’ve heard of situations where early-stage operators weren’t totally clear on what their own license covered, let alone what their partners’ licenses covered.

It happens more than you’d think, especially in a market this new. Minnesota’s regulatory framework is still being operationalized. So doing that license verification step — actually confirming the credential before you start negotiating terms — that’s not paranoia, that’s just due diligence.

Okay so let’s talk about who’s actually out there. CannaHubMN has a directory of licensed growers and cultivators, and there are some specific operators listed. I want to get into those, but first — how should someone be using a directory like this? What’s the workflow?

So the category listing is really your broad sweep. You go there first to see the full landscape — who’s indexed, where they’re operating, what their profile shows. Think of it like a map before you start driving. You’re not committing to a route yet, you’re just orienting yourself.

I like that. Because I think some operators skip that step and go straight to whoever they’ve heard of through word of mouth, and then they end up with a pretty narrow picture of what’s available.

And in a market this early, that’s a real cost. The licensed production base is still forming. New operators are being added as licensure activity continues. So if you did your research six months ago and haven’t looked since, your picture of the market is already out of date.

That’s a good point. The directory updates as new operators come on. So it’s not a static snapshot.

Right. And that matters for planning. If you’re a retailer in, say, Mankato, and you’re trying to figure out regional supply options, the answer to that question might look different in three months than it does today.

Okay, let’s get into the actual operators. Because I think this is where it gets interesting — and honestly a little telling about where the market is geographically. Who are we looking at?

So the directory has ten cultivators listed right now. And when you look at the names and what we can infer about location, there’s actually a pretty interesting spread across the state.

Walk me through them.

Starting with Matchbox Farms MN LLC and Cloud Nine Farms LLC — both licensed cultivators with profiles in the directory. These are your starting points for wholesale outreach if you’re building a supplier list. The profiles give you operator-level detail for initial vetting.

And when you say operator-level detail, what does that actually mean for someone doing due diligence? What are they looking for?

Business information, contact details, licensure status. It’s the first layer of vetting before you pick up the phone or send an email. You want to confirm you’re talking to a licensed operation before you invest time in a conversation about supply terms.

That makes sense. What about the others?

Fairwater Farm LLC, Star Spangled Farm LLC — both listed as grower-cultivators. And then you’ve got Bogside Growers LLC, which is interesting from a geographic standpoint.

How so?

The article specifically calls out Duluth, Brainerd, Bemidji as relevant markets for that listing. So if you’re a retailer in the northern part of the state and you’re trying to source from licensed in-state operators, that’s a name worth looking at.

And that regional proximity piece is actually more important than people might realize. It’s not just about convenience — it affects logistics, it affects your transporter relationships, it can affect freshness and handling depending on what you’re moving.

Completely agree. And that’s why I’d push back a little on the idea of just finding the biggest cultivator and calling it done. Geographic fit matters for supply chain efficiency.

Okay, keep going — who else?

Emerald Fire Farms and High Horse Farms — both indexed as grower-cultivator operations. High Horse Farms in particular is described as a practical resource for anyone mapping licensed production capacity across the state. So if you’re doing that broad landscape analysis, that’s one to have on your list.

And then there are a couple of names that are kind of geographically suggestive, right? Like, you look at the name and you get a hint about where they might be operating.

Yeah, Northern Cultivators LLC is a good example. The name pretty strongly implies a northern Minnesota footprint, and the article mentions Grand Rapids, Hibbing, International Falls as potentially relevant markets. Now, you’d want to confirm that through the actual profile — don’t make supply chain decisions based on a name alone.

Right, that would be a very Minnesota way to get burned. ‘Well, it said Northern in the name, so I assumed…’ — no, check the profile.

Exactly. But as a signal for where to focus your search if you’re in that part of the state, it’s useful.

What about the last two?

Trufarms LLC and Wright Way Farms. Trufarms is listed as a cultivator relevant to retailers and manufacturers sourcing raw cannabis material. And Wright Way Farms — the article draws a connection to the Wright County corridor specifically. Buffalo, Monticello, Delano.

Which is interesting because Wright County is right in that suburban-to-rural transition zone west of the metro. That’s a corridor that doesn’t always get a lot of attention in these conversations, but there’s real retail and manufacturing activity developing out there.

And that’s exactly the kind of regional supply chain gap that a listing like Wright Way Farms could fill. If you’re a dispensary in Monticello or a manufacturer in Buffalo, having a licensed cultivator potentially in your own county is a meaningful logistical advantage.

Okay, I want to push on something here, William. We’ve gone through ten cultivators. And I think someone listening to this might say — ten? That’s it? Is that a thin market?

It’s a fair question. And the honest answer is — this is what’s indexed in the directory right now. It’s not necessarily the complete picture of every license issued in Minnesota. The directory reflects operators who have listed their businesses on CannaHubMN.

So there could be licensed cultivators operating in the state who aren’t in this directory yet.

Correct. And the article is explicit about that — new operators are being added as licensure activity continues. The OCM is still working through applications. So the production base is genuinely still forming.

Which means the right move for operators is to check back regularly, not just do one search and assume they’ve seen everything.

Right. And I’d also say — if you’re a cultivator and you’re not in the directory, that’s a gap worth addressing. Retailers and wholesalers are actively using these resources to build their supplier shortlists. Not being findable is a real competitive disadvantage in a market this early.

That’s a good point. The supply chain relationships that get established now are going to have some staying power. First-mover advantage is real in a market like this.

And it cuts both ways. Cultivators want to be found by the right buyers. Buyers want to find cultivators before their competitors lock up supply agreements. The directory is doing work on both sides of that equation.

Let me ask you something that I think is genuinely confusing for people who are newer to this market. When a retailer is looking at a cultivator listing and thinking about a supply agreement — what should they actually be verifying before they get into those conversations? Like, what’s the checklist?

So the first thing is license status. You want to confirm the operator holds an active grower-cultivator license issued by the OCM. The directory listing is a starting point, but for a formal supply agreement, you’d want to verify that directly.

Not just take the listing at face value.

Exactly. The directory is a research and outreach tool — it’s not a state certification. CannaHubMN indexes operators, but the authoritative source on license status is the OCM itself.

That’s an important distinction. I’m glad you made that clear.

Beyond licensure, you’re looking at operational capacity — can they actually supply the volume you need? Geographic fit, which we talked about. And then the terms of any wholesale arrangement, which is where you’d want legal counsel involved before you sign anything.

Yeah, I’ve talked to operators who’ve treated supply agreements almost like a handshake deal, and that’s — I mean, in a regulated market, that’s just not a sustainable approach.

It really isn’t. The compliance obligations on both sides of a wholesale transaction are real. You need documentation. You need to understand how the product is tracked through the state’s system. These aren’t optional details.

Okay, let’s zoom out for a second. We’ve been talking about this from the buyer’s perspective — retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers looking for cultivators. But what about transporters? Because they came up in the article too.

Good catch. Transporters have a different but equally practical use case for this kind of directory. If you’re a licensed transporter in Saint Cloud, you need to know where the licensed cultivators are geographically — because that determines your pickup routes, your scheduling, your capacity planning.

So it’s not just about who’s growing, it’s about where they are in relation to your operation.

Right. And that’s where the geographic spread of these listings actually becomes a practical planning tool. If you’ve got cultivators in the northern part of the state, in the Wright County corridor, in other regional pockets — a transporter can start mapping routes and thinking about whether their current coverage area makes sense.

I hadn’t thought about it from the transporter angle as much, but that’s actually a really concrete use case. You’re not just moving product — you’re building a logistics network, and you need to know where the nodes are.

Exactly. And in a market this early, the operators who get their logistics infrastructure right now are going to have an advantage as volume scales up.

Let me bring up something a little more uncomfortable. We’re talking about a market that is, in the grand scheme of things, brand new. Some of these operators are brand new businesses. How should buyers be thinking about risk when they’re evaluating cultivators at this stage?

That’s the honest question, and I appreciate you asking it. The reality is that some of these operations are in their first year. They may not have a track record yet. So you’re doing a different kind of due diligence than you would with a mature supplier in an established industry.

Which doesn’t mean don’t work with them — it means go in with eyes open.

Right. It means you’re asking different questions. What’s their facility situation? What’s their expected first harvest timeline? Do they have the compliance infrastructure in place — tracking, testing, documentation? These are the things that separate an operator who’s ready to supply from one who’s still getting their feet under them.

And honestly, some of those early conversations are valuable even if you don’t sign a deal immediately. You’re building a relationship, you’re understanding the landscape, and you’re positioning yourself to move quickly when the timing is right.

That’s a good way to frame it. The directory makes those early conversations possible. It gets you to the right door. What happens after you knock is still on you.

I want to come back to something you said earlier about the market still developing. Because I think there’s a tendency — and I’ve heard this from people in the industry — to wait. To say, ‘I’ll do this research once the market matures a little more.’ And I’m not sure that’s the right instinct.

I’d push back on that pretty hard, actually. The operators who are doing supply chain research right now, who are making contact with licensed cultivators right now — they’re not waiting for a more convenient time. They’re building the relationships that are going to define their competitive position.

And the cultivators who are getting found right now — through the directory, through outreach — they’re the ones who are going to have supply agreements in place when demand really starts to scale.

Exactly. There’s a window here. It’s not going to be open indefinitely. The market will consolidate, relationships will solidify, and the operators who did the work early will have an advantage that’s hard to replicate later.

You know, it reminds me a little of what happened in other newly regulated markets — not cannabis specifically, but any industry that goes from gray area to licensed and regulated. The first year or two, there’s this period where the landscape is still forming and the operators who engage early set the terms of the market. The ones who wait end up chasing.

That’s a fair parallel. And Minnesota is in that window right now. The grower-cultivator license class is active, operators are coming online, and the directory is one of the practical tools that makes this landscape navigable.

Okay, let me ask you one more thing before we wrap this up. For someone who’s listening to this and they’re, say, a dispensary operator in Rochester or a manufacturer in Saint Paul — what’s the actual first step? Not the philosophical first step, the literal first step.

Go to the grower-cultivator category listing on CannaHubMN. Browse the profiles. Look at the operators we talked about today — Matchbox Farms, Cloud Nine Farms, Fairwater Farm, Star Spangled Farm, Bogside Growers, Emerald Fire Farms, High Horse Farms, Northern Cultivators, Trufarms, Wright Way Farms. See which ones are geographically relevant to your operation. Pull up the profiles and start your initial vetting.

And don’t stop there, because the directory is updating.

Right — build it into your regular workflow. This isn’t a one-time search. The production base is still forming, and your picture of the market should keep pace with what’s actually happening on the ground.

And if you’re a cultivator who’s licensed but not listed — that’s the other side of this conversation. You’re not visible to the buyers who are actively looking right now.

Which in a market this early is a real cost. The buyers doing this research aren’t going to wait around for you to show up. They’re going to move to the next listing.

I think that’s the right note to land on, actually. The market is moving. The research tools are there. The licensed operators are starting to come online across the state — from the Wright County corridor to the Iron Range. The question is whether you’re doing the work to find them, or whether you’re waiting for the market to come to you.

And in my experience — and I’ll be honest, this applies to pretty much every regulated market I’ve ever looked at — the market doesn’t come to you. You go to it.