Crop King: Raising the Bar for Cannabis Seed Sales Across the Globe

Imagine being able to walk into your local gardening center and purchase a pack of premium cannabis seeds. A foreign concept to most, but it’s exactly what one pot pioneer has in mind. Kevin, manager at Crop King Seeds sat down with Cannabis Now and shared his vision of a cannabis-friendly nation, where marijuana seeds are readily available at the big chain stores across North America.

“We want to see our product in Lowes and Home Depot; that will be the final push,” he said.

With a mere handful of legal states and an unknown timeline for nationwide legalization both in the U.S. and Canada, this dream will have to wait. Kevin is hopeful that legalization efforts will begin to roll-out sometime in 2016. In the meantime, Crop King Seeds can be found at over 350 shops, as well as the full selection of seeds on their online store.

I had the chance to visit Kevin at the Crop King Seeds main office located on Hastings Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The office is actually located right beside Marc and Jodie Emery’s Cannabis Culture shop and the New Amsterdam vapor lounge. I was half expecting to walk into a smoke filled room filled with Rastafarian-inspired decor and Bob Marley music in the background, but this wasn’t the case — not at all. I walked into a small, but buzzing office space. Three employees were there to greet me as they juggled a barrage of phone calls, helping customers with their orders and answering any questions they had. There was a very positive energy in the room and despite the fact that the three workers were obviously being run off their feet, you could tell they were thrilled to be doing what they were doing.

Being on the forefront of the cannabis industry’s seed sales, there is a clear sense of passion and excitement in the Crop King offices. Crop King Seeds isn’t the only seed company in Canada, and it wasn’t even the only seed company on the block. What differentiates them from the rest is the standards they hold themselves to.

“We’ve changed [cannabis seed sales] by bringing the standards up,” Kevin said.

Crop Kings offers 24/7 customer service, premium packaging and a thoroughly-tested product.

“We test our seeds every day to ensure a minimum 80 percent germination,” Kevin said.

Even with such a high standard of quality, some customers run into issues due to inexperience. I was fortunate to be a fly on the wall during a call with a customer who had no luck germinating his seeds. The 100 percent satisfaction guarantee is more than just a marketing ploy, Kevin walked him through the germination process and had new seeds sent out immediately at no charge.

Complete customer satisfaction is the company mantra at Crop King Seeds. Customer service and packaging are important, but so is a quality product.

“I travel the world, meet with the top producers of strains, and I will contract them to grow in large quantity for us. Making sure the standards are very high,” Kevin said.

The majority of the company’s breeders are located in Europe, but it also supports numerous Canadian breeders. Crop King Seeds strives to be much more than just a marijuana seed company, it supports marijuana law reform across North America. So far Kevin estimates they have donated about $250,000 towards the legalization and medical marijuana movements.

Mirroring the marketing strategies of other major Canadian companies, Crop King Seeds sponsors baseball teams, race cars and they’re even sponsoring a major rock festival, Cannafest, held in Grand Forks, B.C. Not to mention the countless cannabis industry conventions and events they are a part of. It is clear that Crop King Seeds strives to be the Jack Daniels or Molson of the cannabis industry, preparing for the massive Green Rush about to hit North America.

“I used to do the marketing for the Dutch [seed] companies in the early 2000s,” Kevin said. “Marc Emery is one of my inspirations because of how much money he has given back to the movement and individuals and organizations. I always said I wanted to continue his legacy. We aren’t just about profits, we are about helping people.”

Crop King Seeds offers 31 different marijuana strains at the moment, with more on the way. Customers can choose from regular seeds, feminized seeds and the popular auto-flower varieties. They recently introduced a couple of high-cannabidiol (CBD) strains for medical patients as well.

Some of Crop King Seeds’ bestselling varieties are the auto-flower strains. Unlike typical cannabis seeds that require a different light cycle in order to begin flowering, the auto-flower strains automatically start flowering at a certain stage in development. This makes them very desirable strains for both beginners and experienced growers. Kevin explained these auto-flower strains aren’t typically the highest in THC content and they yield a bit less than normal strains, but the ease of growing and low barrier to entry make them a top seller.

The cannabis seed business isn’t nearly as seedy as you might expect, thanks to above-board companies like Crop King Seeds leading the way to a greener future. Catering to an older generation of cannabis user, their customer service and transparent marketing makes them a leader in legal seed sales across the nation, and the world. It’s companies like this that are setting the standard and proving to the world that the marijuana market is as legitimate and beneficial as any other.

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