THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 111, NO. 29
@THEMISSOURIAN
GROWIN G GREE N Cannabis cultivation company talks change from medical to recreational marijuana SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry
Nearly 11 weeks ago, dispensaries across Missouri were approved to start sales of recreational marijuana. Sunrise Dispensary in Maryville is one of the five locations in Missouri from AgriGenesis, a marijuana cultivation and production company. Richard Gunnels, a fifth-generation farmer in Missouri, founded Agri-Genesis after seeing the impact that medical marijuana had on the people around him. With nearly three decades of farming experience and an interest in modern agriculture, he added on to his family’s traditional row crop farming with the new market for cannabis. Sean Carriger, president of Agri-Genesis, has been an owner and operator in the cannabis industry for around a decade. Coming from a career in oil and drilling rigs and running his own safety technology company, he decided to enter the cannabis market. “I ended up being a liaison for this company I invested in with the regulators and the Marijuana Enforcement Division in Colorado,” Carriger said. “As I was playing consultant, trying to help our company build this facility, I figured out like I’m one of the most knowledgeable people in the room just because of my oil and gas experience on this specific topic.” He then took a senior role in the company, helping them get off the ground while continuing his work in oil and gas. Taking a leap of faith, he became the CEO of the company for three years. After that, he worked with companies in different states
that had legalized marijuana to help with their transitions. Starting in medical marijuana production, Carriger said the hardest part of the change to recreational use in Missouri was the higher volume of customers. “In the medical market, there was a 1-to-1 ratio of patients to paid patient consultants or workers,” Carriger said “... They changed that to a 3-to-1 ratio which really helps us have, you know, three times as many customers on the floor at any given time.” Despite this being a big transition in Missouri, Carriger and other team members had gone through this change before in other states that legalized recreational use, so they had been preparing for months in advance to the official approval by the state to sell for recreational use. “We were ready with line stanchions and how to organize the traffic and digital cues on customers coming in and online orders, and we have drive-thru in our retail locations, so we were really prepared for the increase in activity,” Carriger said. He said though they were prepared, it was up in the air when the official announcement would be made that they could start selling recreationally. Several days before anticipated, the sale of recreational marijuana was approved. “It was like ripping the Band-Aid off just to tell our staff,” he said. “You know, it’s seven in the morning and said ‘we’re going live for (recreational) right now, and here’s your checklist that you gotta get through.’” The Maryville location is one of the
Up to
300
pounds of flower is harvested every Monday.
15
acres of land is dedicated to the 56,000 square-foot facility in Macon, Missouri.
SEE GREEN | A4
PH O TOS BY: M A
K AY
LA P
OL A
K ED
ITOR
-IN - C
HIEF
Northwest Missouri’s oldest and largest independently-owned and operated bank. Maryville 660-562-3232 AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Mound City 660-442-3131
Platte City 816-597-5300
Savannah 816-324-3158
Smithville 816-873-2929
St. Joseph 816-364-5678
Member FDIC
PLEASE
RECYCLE