New Zealand farmers prepare to export 'best cannabis in the world'Posted by MMP News AuthorOn December 6, 2020

By Tracy Neal of RNZ

Sun, sea and soil: these are the key ingredients for growing New Zealand’s largest-ever medical cannabis crop.

The first seedlings are now in the ground along the salt-laden and sunny slopes of Kēkerengū – just north of Kaikōura.

The ocean-side plantation run by research and development and cultivation company Puro will eventually cover the equivalent of 10 rugby fields.

Fresh out of quarantine, US-based cultivation technician Max Jablonski was last Friday focused on planting the prized seedlings into freshly furrowed, chocolate coloured soil.

The seedlings were sprouted in a Blenheim nursery, from 140,000 specially selected seeds from around the world. And costing between $1 and $5 each, they were carefully and individually embedded by hand.

Puro managing director Tim Aldridge said it was an important day seeing them transplanted into their new oceanside home.

“It’s an exciting day. We’ve been [through] two-and-a-half years of very hard work to get to this point and it’s so exciting to have our crop now underway at the outdoor facility on the Kaikōura coast.”

Puro was set up in 2018 to guide the development of the plantation on the Macfarlane family farm in Kēkerengū. The site and the seeds were…