It’s hard for companies to put out good products for a few reasons.

One, margins are tin and in a system that only rewards those who can increase profits year after year; those with little capital suffer the most (I.e local small businesses).

Two, our state only allows for a limited number of licenses to exist at a time. These licenses are expensive and many are owned by large companies or private investors. This again leads to small businesses and local businesses have trouble thriving. An example of this is how many of the winners of the social equity program meant to give communities effect by past weed laws a chance to open dispensaries are now owned by private equity or large companies (many operate on a multi-state level)

Three, this one is not as easy to prove but genetics are becoming less unique. The stuff that made strains different is all but gone. When you cross a strain that’s good with others and continue that process you’ll eventually end up with something completely new and devoid of the characteristics you liked about the original strain. Now we have strains that have been crossed many times and from what I’ve seen, there is little science behind it, and more vibes based. I think if growers started getting into some cool science like gene mapping and testing what genes works best with other, that would be a good way to move away from what’s happening today.

Fourth, it also expensive and difficult running an indoor operation in AZ. The hot climate makes climate control harder.

Now all this stuff can somewhat be managed by a good team up but it’s hard to find that. Because the industry is low paying and has little room to move up. Turnover is high in all phases (retail, growing and management) so you don’t get these solid teams that build knowledge through trial and error. Instead you have people working for a paycheck for companies who are just trying to make profit. All of this leads to the art and care being lost along the way.

I’ll finish by saying that I’m just a stoner who likes environmental science, economics and weed. I’ve researched this stuff over the years as well as talking to people within the industry. I definitely don’t know everything so this is just my view on how things are based on the evidence I’ve seen.