The Herbalist: Pure Sunfarms Grows Pure & Potent Cannabis Rooted In British Columbia

Canadian cannabis brand and cultivator Pure Sunfarms has your back.

When you’re at a crossroads choosing between products at your local dispensary, here’s why all signs should point to this British Columbia-based brand.

Trusting the cultivators that grow your weed is essential. Maybe you’re a grower yourself and looking for buds that’ll make you say, “Damn, I wish I grew that.”

Grown under the sun in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Pure Sunfarms uses traditional growing methods paired with the evolving knowledge of legacy genetics.

The result is pure and potent cannabis that you can rely on.

Whether you’re looking for terpene-rich strains, aromatics, flavors, or varying potencies, Pure Sunfarms has something for all.

If you’re in Canada, chances are you know that British Columbia grows the best weed. The favorable climate and ideal conditions give Pure Sunfarms‘s greenhouse-grown bud the popularity it deserves.

The brand takes pride in preserving the lineage of growers that came before them while blending those approaches with practices from a long history of farming to grow Canada’s best and most reliable bud.

And while the origins of British Columbia cultivation mean a lot to Pure Sunfarms, progress does too. For that reason, the brand is constantly exploring where cannabis is headed while sharing the privilege of growing BC bud with Canadians from coast to coast.

Did you know that Pure Sunfarms grows about 248,000 plants in its greenhouse?

These plants are then divided into sixteen different controlled grow rooms to ensure every plant receives the TLC and specific maintenance it needs.

Pure Sunfarms‘s greenhouse is located in one of British Columbia’s sunniest cities. Sitting pretty in Delta, BC, the brand’s cultivation site didn’t just grow cannabis. For 25 years, the farming space grew tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, which gradually shifted into cannabis.

The bright sun in the Fraser Valley provides beams of rays to Pure Sunfarms‘s indoor sun-filled greenhouse. Even more interesting, the site has grown produce for decades, which let them gather environmental data about the location in order to truly take advantage of British Columbia’s favorable environment for cannabis.

The passionate cultivators take immense pride in using the best legacy methods and merging them with traditional farming practices to grow cannabis that’s flavorful, pure, and potent, never steering away from what BC buds should be.

Next time you see a Pure Sunfarms product sitting on the dispensary shelves, know that it was born out of passion for the plant, a rich history of farming, and an unmatched appreciation for growing under the Delta, BC sun.

When did Pure Sunfarms launch? What made you want to explore the art of cannabis cultivation in British Columbia?  

Pure Sunfarms was established in 2017 when Village Farms International, Inc. (Nasdaq: VFF), a leading North American greenhouse produce grower, and Emerald Health Therapeutics, a medicinal cannabis grower saw the opportunity to join a new, emerging market. Together, both companies entered into an agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture for large-scale, high-quality, low-cost cannabis production – and Pure Sunfarms was born. Since then, Pure Sunfarms has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Village Farms. Before cannabis, Village Farms farmed tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the same location in Delta, BC for twenty-five years. Transitioning from growing produce to cannabis required a full greenhouse conversion and several modifications and additions. The Pure Sunfarms brand formally launched its products into the recreational Canadian cannabis market in September 2019. Pure Sunfarms is now one of the largest cannabis operations in the world with 2.2 million square feet of greenhouse space — 1.65 million square feet of which we use to produce, sell and distribute high-quality, BC-grown cannabis.  

Would you say that growing cannabis indoors in your sun-filled greenhouse has more advantages than growing it outdoors? Why did you choose to cultivate your plants indoors? 

BC’s reputation for growing quality cannabis is world-famous and we believe our greenhouse growing approach is what allows us to grow all natural, high quality, consistent product. 

Our growing process is built to harness as much of the Fraser Valley’s sunshine as possible, because the natural full-spectrum light allows our plants to grow stronger, taller, and fuller. The location of our Fraser Valley greenhouse is an ecological sweet spot, where we proudly grow our cannabis using natural sunlight for about 298 days or 40% of the year. On average, during this time, our greenhouse takes in 1,938 hours of sunlight—that’s 1.26 million kilowatt hours of energy beaming down on our plants.  

Greenhouse growing is sustainable, using 85% less water and 97% less land than outdoor growing. In fact, we collect rainwater throughout the year, and use it wherever possible, and from September to June, we depend solely on rainwater for most of our greenhouse operations.  

Another big benefit of growing in our greenhouse is that we can operate a perpetual harvest, meaning we are always planting and harvesting our flower rooms, which provides consistent supply of cannabis year-round. Our high-tech greenhouse allows for precise control of heat, light, and the energy the sun brings to ensure the highest quality product year-round. We carefully monitor our plants using state-of-the-art lighting, irrigation, and temperature control systems imported from Holland. Each batch is sectioned into growing rooms that let us nurture plants at each stage of development, and a 24-hour app-based monitoring system ensures our plants are nourished by exactly what they need at exactly the right time. All that control allows us to the produce aromatic, potent, quality BC bud Pure Sunfarms is known for. 

Could you expand on Pure Sunfarms’s rich farming history? How was that history helped you become such a powerful player in the modern cannabis industry? 

We draw from over 30 years of greenhouse growing expertise from our parent company, Village Farms, who is a leader in vertically integrated Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) across North America. In fact, our greenhouse was previously used by Village Farms to grow produce before it was converted to a cannabis operation and many of our growers have made the transition over to cannabis as well. 

Rob Baldwin, our head grower, has had his hands planted firmly in rich Fraser Valley soil since the age of 13, first picking crops and plucking weeds, then perfecting the art of growing tomatoes at Village Farms, and now mastering growing cannabis at scale at Pure Sunfarms. Rob also harnesses the knowledge of legacy cannabis growers by bringing the two unique legacies together in one team, under one roof. Driven by a love of plants and a passion for growing, our collective heritage lets us look at cannabis from a different perspective, bringing the best of both worlds to the table as we work to elevate the legacy of BC bud. 

Our cultivation team’s unique experience and precise care is what has allowed Pure Sunfarms is to hold the position of Canada’s #1 brand in the recreational market since its inception. Pure Sunfarms now grows over 375,000 cannabis plants at any given time, harvests up to 7,000 cannabis plants a day and produces over 112,500 kg of cannabis a year.  

In your experience, what has been the most popular strain or product from Pure Sunfarms? What’s constantly flying off the shelves? 

Hands down, Pure Sunfarms Pink Kush. Our cultivation team has created the perfect environment for Canadian consumer’s beloved Pure Sunfarms Pink Kush, the #1 all-time top-selling product SKU in Ontario since June 2020 when it was launched in market. Not to mention, Pure Sunfarms Jet Fuel Gelato is gaining momentum as the fastest growing strain in Ontario, the #1 dried flower SKU in July, and the #2 selling strain in the industry overall. 

You’ve mentioned that Pure Sunfarms is always exploring where BC bud is going next. What do you think the future has in store for not only BC bud but Pure Sunfarms’s BC bud? 

We entered the Canadian cannabis market with Pure Sunfarms as a single brand targeting the largest segment of the Canadian consumers. But as we grow, we know the market as well as consumer preferences have evolved. We see this as an opportunity to expand our brand portfolio and address the growing needs and occasions of the Canadian cannabis consumer. Consumers have already started to see some of the new offerings in market with the recent launch of The Original Fraser Valley Weed Co., a brand targeting the value segment which offers bulk ounces at great prices for price-sensitive, frequent purchasers. 

This new brand is just the beginning of what we have in store for Fall 2022 and the beginning of 2023.  

Canadian consumers can also expect to see a lot of new things coming out of the Pure Sunfarms brand in the coming months – from new dried flower strains as well as innovations to our vape and pre-roll products.