“Canada’s cannabis market is now the envy of the world, with a legal licensed environment and superior quality standards compared to most other nations.” Dutch Passion has signed up with ANC Inc to invest in a high-tech seed production facility in Canada to serve the growing Canadian demand for professional-grade cannabis seeds. Eric Siereveld, CEO of Dutch Passion, one of Europe’s oldest cannabis seed companies, explains why the company chose Canada and how the project is taking shape.
Entering the Canadian market
About 5 years after cannabis became legal in all its provinces, Dutch Passion released their first Canadian-produced original seeds in partnership with ANC Inc. “It’s an exciting time, as this is the first time Dutch Passion has established a Canadian seed-production facility. As you would expect in an established/legal setting, quality expectations are high in Canada. Canadian cannabis consumers are quality-focused and have sufficient choice to reject poor-quality suppliers. Dutch Passion's biggest challenge was establishing a seed production facility that mirrored the exacting quality standards used elsewhere for Dutch Passion seed production. Luckily, ANC Inc offered us just that. The hard work was in designing and establishing the facilities. The ongoing work will be all about maintaining and, where possible, improving those standards.”
An important market
“Canada was one of the first places to adopt widespread legality of cannabis, making them a very special and important country in the world of legal cannabis.” Dutch Passion has received a huge number of requests for significant quantities of cannabis seeds from the many legal, licensed Canadian cannabis producers. Siereveld explains that, given the scale of demand for cannabis seeds in Canada, the most logical approach was to consider seed production in Canada if the concerns about quality, reliability, and sustainability could be addressed. “We could supply starting genetics but needed a committed Canadian partner able to maintain the exacting quality standards and follow procedures to the letter. ANC Inc is doing a great job of this.”
Eric Siereveld
Yet the ambitious project did not come without its challenges. “The real challenge was to find a reliable partner that shares the same Dutch Passion approach to the best working practices. This required the right skillset, training, and ability to learn demanding/detailed new skills to create the finest quality seeds. Seed-to-seed consistency is a key attribute of Dutch Passion seeds. The two pre-requisites are elite starting genetics and attention-to-detail during the entire process of pollination and seed production,” says Siereveld.
It took the company a lot of time, face-to-face training, and time spent transferring skill/experience, as well as lots of air miles. “The easy part is that you are replicating existing established Dutch Passion processes to produce seeds. The difficult part is ensuring that the Canadian seed production process precisely replicates the Dutch seed production process, which has been finely honed over several decades. Everything from temperatures, humidity levels, lighting, timing pollination, nutrition, and many other aspects of cannabis seed production know-how has been transferred to ANC Inc.”
Added value to the market
Dutch Passion was the original inventor of feminized cannabis seeds back in the 1990s. Their collection of legacy seed bank genetics dates back to the 1970s, and formal seed sales began in the 1980s. “As one of the oldest remaining original Dutch seed banks, it’s the experience and heritage that make Dutch Passion unique. Skunk genetics that can be traced back to Sam the Skunkman. Legacy Haze seed archives from the legendary Neville.”
“All of that is backed up by decades of know-how and the world’s best network of legal, professional growers. With access to the best cannabis genetics and unrivaled experience, Dutch Passion is able to give the best professional support to legal, licensed cannabis producers as well as small-scale home growers. For licensed cannabis growers, and we have worked with many, Dutch Passion is finding that support and consultancy are just as vital as reliable cannabis seeds. Especially when that licensed producer is in their first year or two of operation,” adds Siereveld.
An obvious choice
Critical Orange Punch and Purple #1 are Dutch Passion’s first two original strains to be produced and sold in Canada. “They were already existing best-selling strains in Canada, with Purple #1 being our most popular outdoor strain with strong repeat sales. The tough, durable outdoor genetics are usually ready to harvest in late September/early October in Canada. Critical Orange Punch is derived from Critical x (Grandaddy Purps x Orange Bud) genetics. The cannabis cup winning heritage produces massively pleasurable THC levels with a sweet citrus taste and a soul-soothing, anti-anxiety high. It’s also very easy to grow. Critical Orange Punch was the most popular Dutch Passion strain in Canada, so again it was an obvious choice to arrange Canadian seed production using these genetics.”
For more information:
Dutch Passion
sales@dutch-passion.com
www.dutch-passion.com