6 • November 2019
COAST RIVER bUSINeSS JoUrNAL
MARIJUANA BUSINESS
Astoria Farms branches
into Portland market
he said.
Staley could potentially return to
area stores, but has no immediate plans
as local demand continues to favor
concentrates.
“A lot of the younger people like the
dabs, oils and vape pens for their conve-
nience. They can take a few light puffs
and it’s like a mild alteration compared
to a heavier bong hit.”
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Coast river business Journal
ASTORIA — The fall has histor-
ically been a brutal season for Clatsop
County cannabis farmers, when a tsu-
nami of outdoor marijuana would flood
local markets and wreck wholesale
prices for licensed growers.
The past two years in particular have
been a rollercoaster ride for Astoria
Farms owner Josh Staley, who watched
his premium pot wholesale price fall pre-
cipitously before rebounding in 2019.
Staley said there’s been less mar-
ket volatility as demand increases for
top-quality indoor marijuana while out-
door crops have been increasingly con-
verted into concentrates, instead of
appearing as discount flower on store
shelves.
“There’s been a little bit of a dip but
not like last year, when it seemed like
prices had fallen off a cliff,” Staley said.
“The season after it went down (2017) it
stayed down until last year but it’s been
climbing steadily through this year.”
Staley said wholesale prices for
indoor pot bottomed out around $1,300
a pound before rising to around $2,000
currently.
“Things are moving quickly and
prices have gone way up from what
they were. Some of the really high-end
stuff is going above $2,000. The market
has been speaking to ‘indoor’ as far as
purchasing flower — it’s what the pub-
lic wants. A lot of the outdoor crop has
been going straight to processors. It took
a few years of people buying $3 grams
to realize there’s a reason it’s that price.”
Premium marijuana headed to
Portland
Staley previously sold his pot direct
to local dispensaries in Astoria, but has
since shifted to the Portland wholesale
market, where his craft cannabis can
fetch top dollar in boutique city shops.
Staley delivers to an intermediary
Lights, camera, crackdown
LUKe WHITTAKer
Staley grows rare and unique strains. His ‘Thai Pearl,’ a variation of the popular 90s ‘Juicy Fruit’
strain, is highly coveted.
LUKe WHITTAKer
Staley said the Portland demographic favors
flower, where concentrates are more popular
on the coast.“The percentage of flower sold
in Astoria isn’t very high compared to Port-
land shops. It’s more of a dab town,” he said.
who then distributes the product to var-
ious Portland pot stores for a fee. The
ease of the process, instead of having
to deliver to each store individually as
before, is part of the appeal, Staley said.
“I drive, drop it off then I’m free. I
liked being in local shops and inter-
acting with people directly here, but it
hasn’t been working out.”
Another reason was the required $2
million in liability insurance required
by his former dispensary, which Sta-
ley said was unaffordable for his small
operation.
Staley has since sold his last four
batches to Portland dispensaries, where
his unique strain ‘Thai Pearl,’ a variation
of the popular 1990s ‘Juicy Fruit,’ has
emerged as an early favorite.
“It seems to have the most universal
appeal,” he said.
Staley said the Portland demographic
overall seems to favor flower compared
to the coast where concentrates are more
popular.
“The percentage of flower sold in
Astoria isn’t very high compared to
Portland shops. It’s more of a dab town,”
Clatsop County currently has 19
retailers and 8 licensed growers, com-
pared to three retailers and 21 licensed
growers and processors in Pacific
County.
The Oregon Liquor Control Com-
mission (OLCC) regulates licensed
marijuana growers requiring specific
rules regarding production. One partic-
ular requirement stipulates that licensed
grows must have 24-hour camera sur-
veillance covering the entire grow area
with the recordings stored or saved for a
minimum of 90 days.
“It was 30 days when they first came
out then they changed it to 90 days (in
August 2016),” Staley said. “They
started cracking down on it.”
The requirement is somewhat over-
kill, according to Staley, adding that
it’s increasingly expensive to invest in
the necessary hard drives needed for
storage.
“There’s no other industry that’s as
watched over. Ninety days is a long time
to keep cameras recording 24/7. I’ve got
seven hard drives with 30 terabytes of
storage, which gives me about 100 days
or a little over,” he said.
Staley has 14 cameras rolling at all
times to adequately cover his roughly
closet-sized grow.
Any equipment failure or power out-
ages lasting 30 minutes or more, where
potential recordings could be lost, are
required to be reported to the commis-
sion, according to the OLCC. A failure to
comply may result in license revocation.