In The Beginning
Since the dawn of organized agriculture, farmers have traded quality seeds to ensure better harvests. In the United States, hippie folklore places the beginnings of American cannabis breeding for seeds in the early 1960s. Later, the smuggling organization known as the Brotherhood of Eternal Love brought cannabis seeds back from Afghanistan, Nepal and other stops on the Hippie Trail.

Around that same time, the Dutch Provos opened the Afrikaanse Druk Store in Amsterdam and began selling buds as well as distributing cannabis plants for one guilder per plant (at that time, the equivalent of 30 cents). A few years later, Wernard Bruining opened the "tea house" Mellow Yellow and jump-started the coffeeshop revolution.

It wasn't until the early 1970's that the first official seed company, Sam Skunkman's Sacred Seeds, began to distribute the genetic material in Holland to grow the acclaimed hybrids, such as Haze and Skunk #1, that were winning secret harvest festivals up and down the West Coast. Then came the Seed Bank, started by the legendary breeder Nevil - the first seed company to advertise directly to the public in HIGH TIMES magazine.

The Super Sativa Seed Club (SSSC) breeder collective, located in the Hague, continued the work done by Sacred Seeds and became famous for their Durban x Thai varieties as well as the legendary William's Wonder and M39. Other banks, such as Lowlands Seed Company (Old Ed, RIP, June 7, 2007) and Cultivator's Choice, continued the work of these pioneers. The names may have changed over the years, but the work done back then ensured that more of our beloved cannabis strains weren't lost forever.

We are proud to induct the following five companies into the HIGH TIMES Seed Bank Hall of Fame as Esteemed Seed Bank Pioneers:

Sacred Seeds/Cultivator's Choice | The Seed Bank | Super Sativa Seed Club (SSSC)
Lowlands Weed/Seed Company | Positronics