Israel is known around the world for its breakthrough advancements in technological innovation — and soon, it may also be known for its weed strains: the first (documented) shipment of cannabis seeds from Israel to Canada arrived at its destination last week.
The shipment contains a variety of medical cannabis seeds to be used for medicinal purposes in the Canadian market, which was among the first to allow the use of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes.
The seeds were developed by Israel-based Agri-tech company BetterSeeds which uses gene-editing technology, including the well-known gene editor CRISPR, to develop new varieties of cannabis seeds.
The seeds are fully stable and uniform cannabis hybrid seeds, which the company claims are the first of their kind in the world. As such, the company expects them to greatly increase the reproducibility, standardization and high quality of raw material within the Canadian market and for the entire medical cannabis industry.
“The seeds that were sent to Canada are unique,” said Ido Margalit, founder and CEO of BetterSeeds. “We anticipate that they will revolutionize both the process of growing cannabis and the product standards in Canada, as our cannabis seeds are 100% stable and uniform.”
“We anticipate that they will revolutionize both the process of growing cannabis and the product standards in Canada, as our cannabis seeds are 100% stable and uniform.”
BetterSeeds CEO Ido Margalit
How was this made possible?
The international export of cannabis seeds was recently made possible following an extensive campaign by the Medical Cannabis Seed Forum, headed by Margalit in order to amend the Israeli government decision 4490 to include the export abroad of cannabis seeds from Israel.
The amendment opened up a significant economic channel for the Israeli seed industry, positioning Israel as a world leader in developments and innovation in the seed industry, as well as in the cannabis industry at large.
“This export is a real achievement for us and was made possible after BetterSeeds led the change in law in Israel to allow the export of cannabis seeds,” noted Margalit.
This is not BetterSeeds’ first international shipment: earlier this year Israel's Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry reported the first-ever export of hemp seeds, destined for the USA. The company is expected to expand its operations to additional markets in the coming months, hoping to minimize the growing pains of the burgeoning global cannabis industry by developing and providing uniform and stable strains of cannabis.