This was a tough sale. I bought for the cannabis exposure in the Hawthorne Gardening subsidiary back before I was a growth investor or had a cogent investment strategy (I sold stocks way too often). I was a big fan of SMG though. Solid business, solid dividend, and a subsidiary I thought would explode. That was March 2017. Hawthorne is now struggling mightily (along with most of the cannabis industry) and SMG has been trailing my benchmarks pretty significantly over the 5+ years I've held. Considering I already have a more pure-play cannabis exposure in $GRWG (plus $GTBIF, $IIPR, $NLCP), I feel like the funds that were tied up in SMG can be better deployed elsewhere in this current environment.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company ($SMG) Investment:

Time held from initial purchase: 5.13 years

CAGR: 2.38% vs $SPY 11.68% vs $QQQ 17.12%

Total Return: 8.92% vs SPY 51.96% vs QQQ 81.87%

Results: Trailed both of my benchmarks

I bought years ago for the Hawthorne Gardening subsidiary, which has been struggling mightily lately (along with other picks-and-shovel companies like pure-play $GRWG). SMG has been on my Sell Watchlist for about 6 months now. If Hawthorne isn't succeeding, my thesis is breaking. $SMG $SPY $QQQ

in August of 2019, Vice News reported on a few vertical farming startups in Singapore. Because Singapore is a small nation that's highly urbanized, the country doesn't have much land to do farming the same way that other countries do. Because of this, the country has welcome vertical farming startups.

Some advantages of vertical farming include:

However, vertical farming is energy-intensive. Lamps are shining light onto plants 24/7 and complex systems are monitoring plants and providing them with their scheduled "rain".

With high energy prices, many are reluctant to invest in vertical farming startups. Higher utility bills decrease the profitability of this energy-intensive form of farming. At the same time, scientists are continuing to find new sources of energy as well as finding ways to make vertical farming less energy-intensive.

If food shortages do come in, then I believe that many investors will pile money into vertical farming startups since the economics of vertical farming makes them more capable of feeding the world faster than traditional farmers. Some might think that $BYND and other food processing companies will have an easier time alleviating a food shortage, but at the end of the day, they source their ingredients from farmers.

Some vertical farming companies that I'm looking at are $APPH $HYFM $GRWG $AGFY $UGRO $VFF. While all of them look appealing, I'm still debating on which one is the better investment.

And to end it off here, I hope that the world doesn't end up in a food shortage situation. Some countries are dealing with food shortages and let's hope that their situation gets alleviated as soon as possible. We don't want food shortages to become a big thing in the coming future.

Hey guys! Here's the upcoming earnings calendar! Two of my holdings, $SE and $SOFI report next week, so I'll be paying significant attention to both. Other than that, I'm also interested in seeing what retailers like $TGT $BBY and $COST have to say about supply chain issues and inflation.

Good luck to everyone!

If you'd like an easier way to track earnings dates, you can automatically sync your portfolio's earning dates to your personal calendar with just a couple of clicks here.

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