This page pulls together the harvest grading system, the processing pipeline, and the planning numbers behind commercial cannabis farming in South Africa. The figures are model estimates with ranges, built from commercial harvest data and the SmokyB420 extraction comparison. They are planning tools, not market quotes.
1. The harvest grading system
At harvest the plant is graded into four classes at trim time, and each class routes to the method that gets the most value out of it.
| Class | Source | Process | End product |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Top colas | Dry, cure, store | Premium smoke flower |
| B | Remaining buds | Dry, cure, hydrocarbon extraction, winterize | Vape cartridges |
| C | Popcorn and larf from the bucker | Dry, cure | Bubble hash |
| D | Sugar leaves and all manicure trim | Dry, cure, single-mesh sieve | Full-spectrum kief (static sifted) plus golden shatter from the sieve oversize via QWET ethanol |
2. The class split estimate
Starting with 1 kg of dry plant material per plant (after the pre-harvest fan-leaf strips), a well-trained outdoor plant splits roughly like this. The ranges come from commercial trim-to-flower data: outdoor trim runs 25 to 40 percent of flower weight, bud to trim sits around 3:1, and SCROG adds 20 to 40 percent yield with about half the larf.
| Class | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| A, top colas | 270 g | 27% |
| B, mid buds | 255 g | 25.5% |
| C, popcorn and larf | 150 g | 15% |
| D, trim | 215 g | 21.5% |
| Stem wood | 110 g | 11% |
Training moves the split more than anything else. An untrained plant gives roughly 13% A and 26% C. A topped and SCROGged plant flips that to roughly 32% A and 12% C, because an even canopy puts full sun on every top. Topping alone sits in between.
3. What each class is worth
Planning value per plant at farm-gate ranges, using the price ranges in the SmokyB420 extraction comparison. Wide on purpose, and the low end is the honest first-season number: drying and curing losses, trim mistakes, and market access all eat into it.
| Class | Product | Model value per 1 kg plant |
|---|---|---|
| A | Premium flower at R60 to R150/g | R16,000 to R40,000 |
| B | Roughly 45 g of hydrocarbon extract (18% yield) at R60 to R180/g | R2,700 to R8,100 |
| C | Roughly 18 g of bubble hash at R80 to R200/g | R1,400 to R3,600 |
| D | Roughly 20 g of full-melt kief plus 6 g of shatter | R2,000 to R8,500 |
| Total | R22,000 to R60,000 per plant |
Read that range correctly. It is the ceiling, and only if the product actually sells at those prices. South Africa’s market is roughly 550 tonnes of flower a year across 8,500+ mostly informal stores and 2,500+ clubs, with a formal industry around R5.5 billion. Formalization will flood supply and prices will fall. The farmers who survive will be the ones with offtake agreements, not the ones with the best yield.
4. What actually decides viability
In order of importance, not yield:
- License and market access. Personal cultivation is legal in SA. Selling commercially requires the licensing framework, expected mid-2027, under SAHPRA categories that include cultivation and manufacturing (extraction, processing).
- Offtake. Who buys the flower, the extract, or the hash, and at what price, before you plant.
- Capital. Dry and cure space, trimming labor, extraction equipment, and the six months between planting and first cash.
- Drying, curing, and grading skill. This is where most first crops lose value, not in the field.
- Yield and class split. Last, because yield without the first four is just cost.
5. Build order for a new operation
- Static sift screens and static tech, for the D-class kief. Lowest capital, highest value per gram.
- Ice water bubble hash, for the C-class popcorn.
- QWET cold ethanol, for the D-class sieve oversize, producing golden shatter.
- Hydrocarbon closed loop with a proper room, for B-class to vape carts. Highest capital, so last.
6. Where this comes from
This page is the hub for a series on 420Forums about the processing pipeline and what it means for SA farmers. The starting point is the commercial cannabis getting started guide, and the full extraction method comparison lives in the SmokyB420 HQ app. Regional threads in the provincial forums work through the same numbers for each part of the country.