Dutch Cannabis Seeds

What are Dutch marijuana seeds?

Dutch marijuana seeds are Indian hemp seeds developed by Dutch breeders and produced in the Netherlands. In practice, lately, fewer seeds are entirely produced in the Netherlands, but it is in this country that the world's leading cannabis experts have their laboratories and where they improve existing or create new marijuana seed strains. Although the seeds are often produced in countries with a more liberal cannabis policy, many Indian hemp varieties are recognized with a strictly Dutch pedigree.

Are Dutch marijuana seeds produced in the Netherlands?

The seeds may no longer be produced exclusively in the Netherlands due to increasingly unfavorable tax laws, but globally, the vast majority of marijuana varieties known today were developed or improved in the Netherlands. The Netherlands was a pioneer in improving marijuana seeds, and in many people's minds, it is still considered a global leader in the industry.

The Netherlands as the best place for cannabis seed production

Why did the Netherlands become a global center for the development of cannabis strains and seeds? It happened not by chance, but specifically due to the relaxation of drug laws in the Netherlands starting in the late 1970s. In 1976, the drug law was relaxed, which from that point on started distinguishing between soft drugs, which do not carry serious health risks, and hard drugs, which pose such threats.
Thanks to such solutions, the Netherlands became the center of cannabis genetics development, and after the tightening of drug laws in the USA by President Nixon in 1971, the best American growers began to emigrate from the country in search of a more friendly place to live. The Netherlands became an obvious choice and five years later became a mecca for those involved with cannabis.

How did marijuana seeds get to the Netherlands?

Numerous groups of people interested in drugs flocked to the Netherlands from all over the world, bringing their achievements and settling there permanently. The cannabis market benefited the most from this phenomenon, welcoming the world's best growers with open arms, along with their developed strains or just a bag of seeds collected along the way. Seeds also arrived in the Netherlands brought by growers from such parts of the world as Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Thailand, Africa, and Mexico. A significant role in the creation of the first known marijuana varieties was played by the American breeder David Watson, known as Sam Skunkman. He supplied his genetic material to several of the first Dutch seed producers in the early 1980s, and it was from his genetics that the first marijuana varieties were produced, forever changing the perception of Indian hemp. In 1980, when the first Coffeeshops started in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht, the cannabis revolution was in full swing, and there was no stopping it.

Dutch marijuana seed producers

Shortly after the first coffeeshops appeared in the Netherlands, the first seed banks also started – companies involved in the production and sale of marijuana seeds. The Seed Bank, established in 1984 by Nevil Schoenmakers, was then the market leader. The Seed Bank focused on supplying seeds to the USA and offered wonderful varieties developed from native landrace strains and genes received from Sam Skunkman. Unfortunately, as a result of a DEA operation, The Seed Bank was shut down in 1991 and bought by the Dutchman Ben Donkers. Donkers then changed the company's name to Sensi Seeds and runs it to this day, offering many of those classics. Meanwhile, Nevil Schoenmakers after closing his company founded the globally known Green House Seed Company in 1991 with Arjan Roskam and continued his work there until 1998 when he left the business. In the late 1980s, there was another competitor for The Seed Bank and it was Super Sativa Seed Club, founded by a former employee of Nevil. Unfortunately, Super Sativa Seed Club also closed as a result of the same DEA operation in 1990 and was not widely known until now when it has been reactivated and is run by the Dutch company Dutch Passion. In the 1980s and 1990s, marijuana seed production was a very pioneering business, even by Dutch standards, and it often happened that not everything went according to plan. Fortunately, companies producing and selling cannabis seeds had the favor of the local government and were treated like normal businesses.

What is a seed bank?

A seed bank is a place where seeds are stored. In practice for the cannabis market, a Seedbank means a company that produces, stores, and sells marijuana seeds.