Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation Licensing

Understanding the Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation Licensing Process

If you are applying for a cultivation license in Minnesota, you have two ways of going about it, and it’s ok to follow both tracks at the same time, since one of them–a lottery–is a long shot best suited for those who can risk a significant financial loss.

The first way to get a cannabis cultivation license in Minnesota is by entering the lottery. The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will award 2 kinds of MN cultivation licenses in the May/June 2025 license lottery. The first is a large Cultivation License, which allows for 30,000 square feet of indoor canopy.

The second kind of license awarded in the lottery will be the Cannabis Cultivation Mezzobusiness, which allows for 15,000 square feet of indoor canopy and allows for the manufacturing and retail sale of your self-produced cannabis. Only 50 large Cultivation Licenses will be awarded (25 social equity, 25 general) and 100 Cannabis Mezzobusiness Licenses (50 social equity, 50 general), and these will all be projects that costs many millions of dollars to build out.

The lottery for the above license types is open only between the dates of Feb 18th, 2025 and March 14, 2025.

Cut to the Chase to See Our Pricing and Template Options (Same for all license types)

For most applications, the second licensing option is ideal–the Minnesota Cultivation Microbusiness License. This license is “uncapped” (there’s no limit on the number being issued), only costs $500 to apply for and allows you 1) up to 5000 square feet of indoor flowering canopy, 2) the right to manufacture your own cannabis products, 3) the right to sell retail to consumers and 4) the possibility of your own consumption lounge, local laws permitting.

The MN cannabis microbusiness application window will opened February 18th, 2025 and will stay open. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

No matter which route you choose for obtaining a MN cannabis cultivation license, both require quite a bit of paperwork to apply. The specific Minnesota cannabis cultivation application requirements are discussed in more detail below.

In a general sense, the MN cultivation application process include these steps:

- Step 1: Research and Planning (You are doing that now!)

- Step 2: Application Submission (We can help you with this.)

- Step 3: Review and Approval (This will take several months for all necessary steps)

- Step 4: Licensing and Operations

See Our Pricing and Template Options

What are the Specific License Requirements for a Cultivation Application in Minnesota?

The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management has published an Application Guide (scroll down to the middle of the page for the pdf) describing the documents that all types of applicants (lottery and uncapped) will need to upload for a Minnesota cannabis cultivation application in order to complete their submissions. The following is the list of “required worksheets”.

Application Documents and Forms for the Minnesota Cultivation License (same regardless of lottery or uncapped licensing track):

Disclosure of Ownership and Control (Simple and self explanatory)
Preliminary Security Plan (We will prepare this for you)
Preliminary Business Plan (We will work with you to prepare this)
Attestation of Labor Peace Agreement (We will show you how to get this from a Labor Organization)
Preliminary Training and Educational Plan for Employees (We will prepare this for you)
Preliminary SOP Quality Assurance (We will prepare this for you)
Preliminary SOP Inventory Control, Storage, and Diversion Prevention (We will prepare this for you)
Preliminary SOP Accounting and Tax Compliance (We will prepare this for you)
Preliminary Operation Plan (We will prepare this for you)

The concept of fillable pdf worksheets for cannabis license applications has been used recently in Delaware and Maryland, so this is familiar work for us. Minnesota used something similar last July when the first round of social equity lottery qualification for cannabis licenses was done. If you look closely at the licensing processes of various states, they all borrow ideas from each other. The list above, for example, uses SOP titles that have been mimicked exactly from New Jersey and Mississippi.

How Much Does a Cannabis Grow License Cost in Minnesota?

The Minnesota cannabis cultivation application fee for microbusinesses is $500, which is non-refundable, and the annual renewal fee is $2000. There is no initial license fee.

For a Mezzobusiness that includes cultivation as an endorsement, the application fee (non-refundable lottery entry fee) is $5000, the initial license fee is $5000 and annual renewal is $10,000.

For the large Cultivation-only License in MN, the application fee (non-refundable lottery entry fee) is $10,000, the initial license fee is $20,000 and the annual renewal is $30,000.

Minnesota cultivation license fees are higher than some states, but lower than many others. The main downside of the program is that most lottery entrants not win the lottery and will therefore lose their application fees.

Minnesota Cultivation Licensing Fees and Costs

Planning for the financial requirements associated with an MN cultivation license has several considerations. The cost of the license itself is not a big-ticket item if you are going for a microbusiness, but there are quite a few other start-up costs, such as:

The application fee
Costs of application support
Costs associated with local approvals (varies depending on how much you do yourself)
Costs for a location (are you purchasing or leasing?)
Costs for build-out and compliance
Initial inventory costs
Operational costs for the first few months

Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation Budget Sample

Jennifer Martin, the company owner, has designed and operated multiple cannabis cultivation facilities across the country. She created this sample indoor cultivation budget to help our customers (and website visitors) make solid plans for financing.

This pro forma budget forecasts income and expenses for Years 1-3 for an indoor cultivation operation of 5000 square feet of canopy. Obviously, the bigger the canopy, the more expensive both capital and operational expenses will be.

Minnesota cannabis cultivation budget

How Long Does it Take to Get a Cannabis Cultivation License in Minnesota?

Although the OCM will hold the lottery for the larger cultivation licenses in May or June, it will take several more months for lottery winners to get final approval to operate. For uncapped license types, the microbusiness applicants will take a few months to get their licenses, which will go slower if the OCM requires corrections on the paperwork that has been submitted.

Prospective growers can start securing financing and property while they are waiting for the OCM to give final approval to start growing plants. Indoor cultivation facilities can take many months to design and build out, not to mention lead times for heavy equipment orders. If you are doing ground-up construction, expect the process to take a couple years or more, depending on how expeditious your local building permit department is in approving construction documents.

Timeline for Getting a Cultivation License in Minnesota

Here is a sample timeline for how the process might go:

Challenges Unique to the Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation License

Cultivation is the most difficult of the MN cannabis license types to succeed it. It takes many years to develop your cultivation chops to the point of getting great, reliable and consistent harvests on a regular schedule. Curveballs are everywhere with cannabis cultivation, mainly due to bugs, diseases, and plant health problems and genetic variations. The biological side of cannabis cultivation comes along with unpredictability; it’s not just a widget factor that operates on a reliable program.

The mechanical systems it takes to properly maintain indoor environmental systems are intensive, expensive, and often in need of continuous oversight and backup. If you haven’t dealt with these kinds of things on a smaller scale, it’s very risky to take on a commercial-scale project.

How To Get Started With Minnesota Cultivation Licensing

Applying for a cannabis grow license in Minnesota involves these basic steps. After February 17th, 2025:

Create an account at the MN CRC’s application portal
Become familiar with the information that’s in the portal and the document requirements.
Get to know the MN cannabis regulations issued by the the OCM and your local municipalities, as well as the statute that legalized cannabis in Minnesota. We know regulatory text is tedious to interpret, but the cultivation applicants who learn it first and learn it best will have an advantage over everyone else. If you know all of the rules and limitations of your license type, you will much more easily navigate the process.
Reach out to Minnesota Cannabis License Consultants (like us) and talk shop. You will always learn something from each professional you talk to who is also trying to break into or serve the cannabis business in the state.
Gain access to important information as soon as it becomes available. You can set Google news alerts for Minnesota Cannabis Licensing.
Start searching for suitable properties. The location can make you or break you, and the sooner you find it, the cheaper it will be.
Start securing investors who will help you handle capital costs, and start working on a contract to seal a deal with them. (Contracts can take months, and it’s very common for negotiations to break down due to misunderstandings or disagreements about control and ownership percentages.)
Start putting your business plan together (We can help with that!)
Be aware of the application submission date and everything you need to submit, so you can be among the first to apply for a cannabis cultivation license, both locally and at the state level. As mentioned above, if you are entering the lottery, the submission window is February 18th – March 14th, 2025. If you are applying for a an MN cannabis microbusiness license, there is no deadline, but there will be a rush and a bidding war for properly zoned locations, so don’t wait until it’s too late to focus on that.

What are the Eligibility and Qualifications for a Cultivation License in Minnesota?

Minnesota cannabis license eligibility is open to all US Citizens 21 and over. There is no state residency requirement and the disqualifying criminal offenses are minimal. That means pretty much anyone can get a MN cannabis cultivation license.

As far as experience and qualifications, experience matters when it comes to cultivation! It is a highly specialized skill, all the way from seed to sale. It’s not for the faint of heart!

Further Resources and Support for Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation License Applicants

Minnesota Cultivation License Regulations (draft status until summer 2025)

Minnesota Cannabis Cultivation Laws (The Original Legislation and the 2024 Update)

Read about the MN Cannabis Microbusiness Licensing Process

Read about the MN Cannabis Retail Licensing Process

Read about the MN Cannabis Manufacturing Licensing Process

Read the Overview of Minnesota Cannabis Licensing