How modern cannabis was bred —
and the people who shaped it.

USA → Netherlands · 1970s – present

David Watson

a.k.a. Sam the Skunkman

Founded · Sacred Seeds (1976), Cultivator's Choice (1985)

Stabilised Skunk #1, the foundational polyhybrid behind most modern strains, and brought elite American genetics to the Netherlands after the 1982 Sinsemilla Tips raid.

Working out of Santa Cruz in the late 1970s, Sam crossed Afghani indica with Acapulco Gold and Colombian Gold to produce Skunk #1 — the first strain bred specifically for indoor production. After fleeing US prosecution, he carried the line to Amsterdam, where it seeded the Dutch industry.

Australia → Netherlands · 1980s – 2000s

Neville Schoenmakers

Founded · The Seed Bank of Holland (1984)

The first commercial cannabis seed company. Distributed Northern Lights, Haze, Skunk, Hash Plant and Big Bud across Europe, professionalising the breeder catalogue model.

Neville turned underground genetics into a mail-order industry. The Seed Bank's 1987 catalogue is considered the founding document of European commercial breeding. Sensi Seeds later acquired the brand.

USA · 1980s – present

DJ Short

Founded · DJ Short Genetics

Defined the modern indica fruit-flavour palette through long, patient pheno-hunts of Highland Thai and Oaxacan lines.

Working with Pacific Northwest growers from the early 1980s, DJ Short pursued pheno selection over decades, releasing Blueberry — the first strain to consistently express true blueberry terpene character — in the early 1990s.

USA → Netherlands · 1990s – present

Soma

Founded · Soma Seeds (1996)

Pioneered organic, hand-pollinated breeding in Amsterdam and authored some of the most influential CBD-dominant and high-myrcene strains in modern medical use.

Born Michael Strauss, Soma left the US for Amsterdam in 1993 and quickly became one of the most respected Cannabis Cup competitors. His emphasis on terpene character and organic technique influenced an entire generation of European breeders.

Netherlands · 1990s – present

Arjan Roskam

Founded · Green House Seeds (1985 coffeeshop, 1995 seed co.)

Industrialised the breeder-celebrity model and won more Cannabis Cups than any other operator. Pioneered the modern landrace-hunting project ('Strain Hunters') that catalogued surviving sativa populations in Malawi, Congo and India.

From his Green House coffeeshop in Amsterdam, Arjan and Franco Loja crossed elite cup-winners with field-collected landraces, releasing some of the highest-THC strains of the 2000s. The Strain Hunters expeditions remain the most documented modern landrace fieldwork.

USA · 2000s – 2020

Subcool

Founded · TGA Genetics / Subcool Seeds (2001)

Stabilised California elite cuts into seed form, making clone-only flavours like Jack the Ripper and Querkle accessible to home and craft growers worldwide.

Subcool (Marc Emery's contemporary, born John Schroyer) emphasised seed-stock stability and authored 'Dank: The Quest for the Very Best Marijuana,' one of the most-read breeding texts of the 2000s.

Canada · 1990s – 2010s

Reeferman

Founded · Reeferman Seeds (1999)

Preserved and re-released a large catalogue of pre-Skunk North American heritage lines, including Love Potion and Original Northern Lights.

Working from British Columbia, Reeferman focused on heritage preservation at a time when most of the industry was chasing potency, keeping pre-1980s genetics in circulation.

USA · 2000s – present

Ben Holmes

Founded · Centennial Seeds (2009)

One of the first breeders to apply Mendelian rigour and HPLC chemotyping to cannabis, defining the modern Type II (1:1 THC:CBD) and Type III (CBD-dominant) chemovars used in medical practice.

Based in Colorado, Holmes' chemotype-driven breeding made standardised CBD:THC ratios reproducible at scale and underpins much of today's medical CBD-rich catalogue.

Netherlands · 2003 – present

Bedrocan B.V.

Founded · Bedrocan (2003)

The first company to produce GMP-grade, batch-standardised cannabis flower for pharmacy dispensing — the model every UK medical producer now follows.

Operating under contract to the Dutch Office for Medicinal Cannabis (OMC), Bedrocan demonstrated that cannabinoid and terpene profiles could be held within ±5% batch-to-batch, opening the door to medical prescribing across Europe.