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Grasshopper Farms recently won approval from the Galloway Township Planning Board to legally operate a licensed indoor adult-use recreational cannabis growing facility. They hope to have their first cannabis harvest and be on shelves in the first quarter of 2025.
Grasshopper Farms CEO Will Bowden and his team attended their final decision meeting in Galloway in South Jersey by Atlantic City. He called it very intensive diligence rather than a fight with the township when describing securing town approval to grow weed legally.
There are many in town against legal marijuana.
Bowden noted that it was the first cannabis-growing facility Galloway had approved.
“They [the township] don’t want a bad operator to come in and join their community,” he explained. “They also don’t want the operation to disrupt the community in any way.”
“People are still dealing with a lot of misinformation. The two main focuses are odor and security,” Bowden noted. “Using reports from a 10-year study in Colorado, these are less of an issue than people typically think.”
Will said many people in America have a trickle of the Reagan and Nixon administrations’ views on cannabis. The campaign ran on inaccurate information, which intensified the significant stigma around cannabis.
“Many people try to compare outdoor grow to Narcos Mexico,” he mentioned.
Grasshopper Farms has been going through an extensive approval process to operate legally. At a Planning Board meeting last January 2024, Bowden explained that they were working with the Demaree family and their property, which used to be a potato farm.
The Galloway Planning Board has maintained tight control of the process, which varies wildly from town to town. Grasshopper Farms had to enter a special redevelopment agreement to operate in town.
They won the annual licenses needed to legally grow and manufacture cannabis from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) in August 2023. They first won conditional cannabis licenses in June 2022.
There were a lot of ups and downs for the Grasshopper Farms team due to the many delays they had. Will’s job was to maintain steady leadership.
“This is an industry that beckons patience and persistence. And as long as you can land in that place and just know that no matter what they throw at us, if what we’re proposing is legal and is also ethical and morally just then we’re going to be fine. We’re going to prevail,” he argued.
Bowden said that the most rewarding part of being in the industry was “Creating jobs for people who never thought that they would be able to work in this industry in a way where now they don’t have to look over their shoulder because they were doing it illegally before. And now they can be proud and tell people what they do for a living.”
Grasshopper Farms is a small Multi-State Operator (MSO). It began in Michigan by selecting the ideal property. They ultimately chose land previously used as a corn farm.
The team started site work in October 2020 and secured the final license in April 2021. They began doing genetic work by experimenting with seeds and plants inside the building while setting up the outdoor grow area where the plants would be planted after *cloning.
The clones were ready around July 2021. This was an eight-month period from the time of the first building to the time of the first field setup. Their drying facility came around October of the same year.
Notably, GF says they offered many tours of their growing operation.
They had two harvests in Michigan before having the opportunity to expand into Colorado. This process was a bit different due to the space having previously been a cannabis farm. It allowed them to get up and running much quicker. They have also had two harvests there before now expanding into New Jersey with indoor grow.
He mentioned how very few legislators or lawmakers are cannabis enthusiasts themselves.
“We gotta give them some grace. The same people who are writing the regulations for the legal framework are also the same people who were responsible for writing the regulations to enforce against this industry,” Bowden argued.
“It would be nice if we could have more regulatory bodies, talk between all the states. Because it seems like when a state a lot of times releases or builds their framework, they do what they’re going to do,” he added.
Bowden noted that even though the regulations might seem tough, he wouldn’t change anything.
Bowden was born in Santa Cruz, California. He said he was always around the cannabis culture, having grown up out there.
Notably, Bowden told Cannabis Business Times that his wife is from New Jersey and has family here.
Before joining the industry, Will was in both the military and the police, which serves great irony in the conflicting industries. He said his community of friends and family have been overwhelmingly supportive during his journey.
He said he was unable to partake or use cannabis due to his involvement in the military and police force.
Upon retiring, he had the opportunity to work in the industry. He became intrigued by the stigma labeling outdoor flower had as “lower quality.” He began investigating the industry and made a business plan to grow high-grade outdoor flower available to all consumers.
Grasshopper Farms has been building its reputation in the New Jersey cannabis industry and community by tabling at conventions and speaking to Stockton University students.
“}]] Grasshopper Farms recently won approval from Galloway to operate an indoor cannabis growing facility. They hope to be on shelves soon. Read More
