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As big of a year as 2020 may turn out to be for marijuana in America -- as multiple states including South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, and New Jersey, look to legalize recreational pot -- there could be even more exciting developments in 2021. New York could become the prize of the industry next year, and there's hope for progress on marijuana reform at the federal level.

Although nothing is set in stone, there are a few reasons for cannabis investors to be bullish for the new year. Here are two potential developments to watch for in 2021 that could send pot stocks soaring.
It could be the year New York legalizes marijuana

I’m often asked to comment on whether or not cannabis will ever truly attain the status of a commodity. While the answer has generally been yes, we have a ways to go. 

First of all, it’s necessary to understand what exactly a commodity is. For our purposes, and in the context of cannabis, we’re talking about a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold. Modern examples of commodities include copper and coffee.

A commodity is a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold.

Ministry of Hemp now offers a special “Ministry of Hemp Verified” seal to the brands we review. If you see this seal in use by a brand, come visit our website to see the products we’ve reviewed and learn more about them. 

At the Ministry of Hemp, our goal is to build confidence and transparency in the hemp industry, especially when it comes to the contents of CBD products. Sadly, fake products, or at least CBD products with misleading labels, are commonplace. That’s why we only work with brands that meet our high standards. 

Since we’re starting to share this special seal with our brand partners, we wanted to explain what it means to be “Ministry of Hemp Verified.” 

Tuesday’s presidential election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden could have dramatic effects on various stocks and sectors, and investors have spent months trying to identify potential winners and losers.

A group of stocks seen benefiting from Biden’s Democratic policies has outperformed those seen benefiting from Republican Trump. Over a two-month period that ended Wednesday, a “Biden basket” of stocks created by JPMorgan head of U.S. equity strategy Dubravko Lakos gained 4.5% versus a 16% drop for a “Trump basket.”

Here is a look at stocks that might fit best in a Biden or Trump portfolio:

Will These Pot Stocks Make Big Gains Next Year?

This holiday shopping season will be longer and less traditional than ever.

This year, it’s being ushered in earlier and with far less fanfare.

Many retail trackers will begin their official holiday tracking October 13.

Best Buy’s new “Black Friday” and the start of Amazon’s Prime Day, rescheduled from its July launch due to COVID-19.

Holiday shoppers traditional buying preferences and patterns are shifting, too.

The cannabis market in California has continued to thrive amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and legal sales are on track to surpass $6 billion in 2025, accounting for a sixth of all legal cannabis sales in the United States, a leading analyst said Wednesday.

The state market — the largest legal market in the world — has benefited from a bump in demand during the pandemic as customers stock up on products similar to alcohol and tobacco, said Jessica Lukas, vice president of consumer insights for BDS Analytics, a cannabis research firm based in Boulder, Colorado. The firm found that legal spending for weed last year was $3.1 billion in the state and $8.7 billion in the illegal market.

The United States cannabis industry is poised to grow exponentially. Many states have approved or decriminalized medical cannabis use; several have legalized recreational use. Only a few states have been legislatively silent about public use of cannabis. It is likely some of these holdout states soon will further decriminalize cannabis.

As a result, investment in cultivation and processing facilities has mushroomed. In some respects, the industry resembles a gold rush. Fledgling and mature companies and entrepreneurial individuals are aggressively staking claims on new cannabis-related products and businesses. As in other evolving industries, entrepreneurs would be wise to consider how to protect their market position as a part of prudent due diligence.

Law enforcement officers in Southern California have eradicated nearly 75,000 cannabis plants from the Los Padres National Forest over the last six months, according to a statement released by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. A total of 18 illegal marijuana cultivation investigations were conducted by the agency on public and private land in and around the national forest during the months of May through October, according to the sheriff’s office.

Harvesting the crop is a straightforward business, but there are a few things to know before you start the process.

The Harvest

Before beginning, prepare a good, strong elixir of equals parts chilled vodka and water. The vodka (cooled to zero degrees celsius), will shock the roots into closing up and will actually make them stop functioning. This is exactly what you want, since the goal is to dehydrate the plant.

Vertical integration is risky business.

A vertically integrated company owns every step of a product’s value chain. The assumption is that quality and consistency can be better controlled when every step of the process occurs in-house. In some cannabis markets, it’s required by law, but vertical integration not always in the best interest of the consumer or the business.

Unscrupulous seed dealers, lack of experience with the new crop and regulatory hurdles contributed to a rough first year for Louisiana’s industrial hemp program, state officials said Monday.

“This is a growing pain for us,” said Angela Guidry, industrial hemp coordinator with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The state has 95 licensed growers, not counting eight that have been approved but have not yet paid the $500 annual fee and 12 pending applicants. But of the 868 acres of hemp planted, only 138 have been harvested, according to the LDAF.

The Victorian Government says the future of an industrial hemp industry in the state is looking bright after a taskforce report was tabled on Wednesday.

While Victoria is striving to be a leader in medicinal cannabis in Australia, when it comes to hemp it’s quite the laggard – but perhaps that will change soon.

Approximately 200 hectares of hemp was planted in the state in the 2019-20 growing season.170 hectares were cultivated in 2018-19 and 600 hectares in 2017-18. The drops compared to 2017-18 has been primarily attributed to low water availability; but red tape wouldn’t be helping any.

When discussing sustainable cannabis, talk typically leans toward water conservation or energy efficiency. But, there are several overlooked areas of cannabis cultivation that are desperately in need of a sustainability overhaul.

Consider, for example, how much biomass is required to make cannabinoid isolates. Or, have you ever wondered how many outdoor plants are discarded every day due to mold, heat stroke, or wind damage?

Selective breeding could hold the key to addressing some of these issues and developing more resilient, vigorous varieties.

Big data. Machine learning. Artificial intelligence. All commercial cannabis cultivators should be paying attention to these concepts, as the application of data analytics is beginning to gain a foothold in the cannabis industry.

As the industry matures, operators are raising the bar for optimizing efficiency, increasing consistency and, most importantly, profitability. Data is the vehicle for accomplishing these goals.

Methods of Collecting Data

It all begins with data collection. Before turning on the switch for a flood of data, it’s important to understand what data points need to be tracked and why. Actionable data is the key here.

For Melisa Nelson-Baldwin, data is key. And what this trained crop research scientist sees is hemp is a great crop for Kansas farmers.

So much so that Nelson-Baldwin and her partners, husband Aaron Baldwin and brother-in-law Richard Baldwin, are ready to build a hemp fiber manufacturing plant in Great Bend – the first one in Kansas.

“We want to be up and running by the end of the year,” Nelson-Baldwin said.

The Baldwins grow both industrial cannabidiol oil and fiber hemp at their farm, South Bend Industrial Hemp, in Barton and Stafford counties. Aaron and Richard Baldwin are fourth-generation farmers in Great Bend, while Nelson-Baldwin grew up on a farm in Holton. The three work with both forms of industrial hemp on 55 acres of their traditional grain farm.

Oct. 17 marked the first day of medical cannabis sales in Missouri, and the state’s two operational cannabis retailers, N’Bliss and Fresh Green, have had quite the journey to serving patients in the nascent market.

N’Bliss, a subsidiary of Nirvana Investments, opened its first two stores in Manchester and Ellisville on Oct. 17, while Fresh Green opened for business in Lee’s Summit on Oct. 19.

“It was exciting—the energy is real,” N’Bliss Managing Partner and CEO Bradford Goette tells Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary of opening weekend.

Two small Maine-based marijuana businesses are suing the agency that oversees recreational marijuana operations, arguing state licenses were illegally awarded to out-of-state owners.

State law requires owners of marijuana operations to live in Maine and to have filed state income taxes for four years. But the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy ignored the requirement, based on the state attorney general’s conclusion that it’s unlikely to hold up to legal scrutiny.

The federal lawsuit contends out-of-state companies take away a competitive advantage for Maine business operators.

Wisconsin hemp groups say the state’s decision to delay new regulations will keep CBD growers from suffering under more restrictive regulations.

Global Hemp Recyclable Packaging Market 2020 by Manufacturers, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 describes market introduction, product scope, market overview, and meticulous analysis of the Hemp Recyclable Packaging market in the forecasted period from 2020 to 2025. The report keenly analyzes significant features in major developing markets.