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Amid 120 acres of decaying cornstalks and scarecrows along County Road 665 north of Paw Paw, rows and rows of lush green trees rise into the sky. Expensive trees. Trees that make up the next crop of marijuana growing at Grasshopper Farms.

October, otherwise known in the cannabis industry as “Croptober,” is the annual harvesting of the state’s outdoor marijuana plants, and an estimated record 100,000 plants will be reaped this season. Croptober also means a product surplus that invades the market resulting in depressed prices for the industry and good deals for consumers. This lasts from late October through February the following year.

However, the industry is maturing and companies are deploying strategies to not only combat pricing but thrive from the annual outdoor harvest, preventing spooky season from being so commercially scary.

“Growing outdoors is really hard,” said Will Bowden, a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, former Florida cop and now CEO of Grasshopper Farms. “People want to do something in a more controlled environment, without the pressures of weather. That’s why when you go into retail, you’ll find only one grade of outdoor flower. That is the discount shelf space.”

utdoor plants tend to be viewed as being lower quality; indoor operations can simulate optimal conditions 24/7 compared to, well, nature. And cannabis grown outdoors generally fetches a smaller price on the market. Much of it ends up as biomass used to make distillate or edibles where the highest-quality flower isn’t as appreciated.

For Bowden, growing outdoors offers an opportunity to set his product apart.

“Growers generally put less care into their outdoor farms,” he said. “We don’t believe that and are trying to change that perception.”

To read more, click on Crain’s Detroit

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