We are Sensi Seeds and this is our story

Pioneers of the cannabis seed industry

Sensi Seeds is the world’s largest and oldest cannabis seed bank, founded in 1985 by Ben Dronkers. From humble beginnings as a small family business to becoming a globally recognised industry pioneer and beyond, Sensi Seeds continues to set the standard for cannabis breeding today.

Sensi Seeds is committed to both preserving legacy cannabis strains and creating new ones. The genetics, the brand, and what it stands for are the foundations of today’s worldwide cannabis community.

Sensi Seeds sets the standard for breeders worldwide

The roots of Sensi Seeds run deep and strong. From the day it was founded, Sensi Seeds has remained true to the core values that inspired Ben Dronkers to make the best cannabis seeds available in the first place: ingenuity, preservation, authenticity, quality, and the normalisation of cannabis.

Growers around the world choose Sensi Seeds genetics when they want to be sure of what’s in their gardens. Award-winning Sensi Seeds strain Jack Herer was selected by Bedrocan, the only company in the Netherlands with proven capability of producing standardised medicinal cannabis, to develop the cannabis products supplied by pharmacies all over the Netherlands.

Sensi Seeds’ Skunk #1, Hindu Kush, Afghani #1, heavyweight Northern Lights and its sativa-dominant offspring Northern Lights #5 x Haze are among those which laid the foundations of Dutch cannabis heritage. They are still vibrant and essential strains today, and still winning awards. Building upon those strong foundations came equally important strains such as Shiva Shanti, Jamaican Pearl, Fruity Juice, Big Bud, and a whole family of Skunk varieties.

Naturally, the Sensi Seeds breeders continue to create new lines with these legendary strains. Now they are joined by countless breeders around the world who also delight in being able to use those same stable genetics themselves. Many more cannabis strains from the earliest days of Sensi Seeds can be found in the most modern of hybrids.

Four decades of genetic authority. Zero compromises

Sensi Seeds is the first cannabis seed company in the Netherlands to obtain an exemption from the Opiumwet, the law prohibiting cannabis cultivation. This license to grow and preserve cannabis plants was secured in 1998, cementing the safety of their genetics.

The license enabled the company to maintain the integrity of the breeding lines even during the crackdown on cannabis companies from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The genetic standards in the research and development facilities held strong. All the lines, including classics like Super Skunk, Northern Lights, and Hash Plant, remained safe.

The first decade of Sensi Seeds is the first chapter of Dutch cannabis breeding history. Subsequent decades have seen even more expansion and diversification of both the company and the library of cannabis genetics closely guarded in the research and development facilities. Many strains are still unreleased, and new ones are continuously being added.

There are now over 1000 strains in the Sensi Seeds seed bank. Assembling this library is an impressive achievement in terms of genetic preservation alone. But for founder Ben Dronkers and his dedicated family and team, the question has always been: ask not what cannabis can do for you, but what you can do for cannabis. As Ben’s legendary quote states, ‘It’s all about the plant’.

Sensi Seeds Breeding Grounds: building community through collaboration

Sensi Seeds Breeding Grounds is a revolutionary collaborative project. It gives emerging cannabis seed breeders the chance to work directly with Sensi Seeds genetics, facilities, experts, and technical resources. The best up-and-coming cannabis strain creators are invited to collaborate with the world’s largest seed bank, creating a powerful union of experience and experimentation.

Sensi Seeds tailors each collaboration to the individual breeder, giving them the freedom to be truly creative. Some Breeding Grounds strains even contain genetics from the seed bank that aren’t commercially available yet.

The results continue to be impressive. Award-winning cannabis strains such as Mandarine Jam (with Fat Beans), Candy Hash (with Sherbinskis), and Bad Apple (with Aficionado) deliver the best of both historic and modern cannabis seed breeding into the hands of the people who care about it the most: the growers.

Sensi Seeds’ breeders are enthusiastic about the Breeding Grounds project: ‘‘We’re giving cannabis seed breeders access to the largest cannabis seed catalogue in existence, for them to play with. Instead of sitting on genetics and keeping them for ourselves, we’re starting a community of the best cannabis growers in the world.

All these breeders work under the umbrella of Sensi Seeds. Together, they’re exchanging knowledge and genetics, they’re testing new ideas, they’re creating cultivars that are helping to shape modern cannabis breeding. It’s very exciting.”

Once again, other seed companies are following the example of Sensi Seeds and beginning to look for collaboration opportunities, strengthening the global cannabis community.

Sensi Seeds in Barcelona: building community on the ground

Ben Dronkers has contributed greatly to Spain’s cannabis culture. In 2012, he opened the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum Barcelona, a sister venue to the original cannabis museum in Amsterdam. It’s housed in a city palace and is a treasure-house of cannabis-related art and artefacts.

Next door to the Barcelona museum is Sensi Seeds’ flagship store. Opened in 2019, it features a 170 m² showroom that caters for the entire cannabis-conscious lifestyle.

This was followed in 2024 by the first official Sensi Seeds cannabis social club in Barcelona. Since opening, the Sensi Social Club has offered members access to original Sensi Seeds strains such as the legendary Silver Haze, as well as a curated selection of other premium cannabis varieties.

Unmatched in quality, trusted worldwide

For decades, Sensi Seeds genetics have been slowly spreading around the world thanks to communities of dedicated growers. In 2023, Sensi Seeds launched in the US, bringing these sought-after strains directly within the reach of growers in North America.

For the strains based on pure landrace genetics from the Himalaya (think Hindu Kush and Afghani #1) this was the next step of a journey spanning five decades and thousands of miles.

For the Skunk family, bred from ancestors introduced to the Netherlands from the US in the early 1980s, it’s a legacy coming full circle. The roots of the cannabis heritage family tree grow ever longer and stronger.

Sensi Seeds breeds positive change

This ethos has led to the founding of several ground-breaking sister companies, all of which have advanced the normalisation of cannabis use and widespread recognition of the plant’s therapeutic and industrial benefits.

The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum

Ben Dronkers opened the world’s first cannabis museum in 1985. The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum has locations in Amsterdam and Barcelona and has welcomed over two million visitors. In Amsterdam, there are two venues: the museum, which focuses on the medicinal and recreational uses of cannabis, and the Hemp Gallery, which spotlights the countless industrial uses.

Notable guests include activists and authors Whoopi Goldberg and Howard Marks (aka Mr Nice), entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries van Agt.

HempFlax

Sensi Seeds helped facilitate the revival of the Dutch hemp industry via its sister company HempFlax. Once world-renowned as a producer of the crop which was essential to pre-Industrial life, the Netherlands had all but forgotten hemp until Ben Dronkers brought it back in 1993.

HempFlax now sets the gold standard for industrial hemp farming the world over, and continues to develop machinery, techniques, and products that make full use of the plant’s remarkable properties.

The Cannabis College

Sensi Seeds is the main sponsor of the Cannabis College. Originally located on the stretch of canal known as Amsterdam’s Green Light District, the Cannabis College is now a purely online platform offering knowledge about various aspects of cannabis and its uses. Hundreds of thousands of people benefitted from the free information offered by this educational non-profit centre during its time as a physical venue. A special part of Amsterdam’s cannabis history, its work continues online.

Sensi Seeds breeds acceptance and normalisation

The world’s attitude towards cannabis is shifting. In many places, the legislation on cannabis has changed drastically since Sensi Seeds was founded. Much work remains to be done. Sensi Seeds remains at the forefront of the quest for cannabis to take its rightful place in society so that all who wish to can enjoy its benefits.

Over the last 40 years and counting, Sensi Seeds has:

• Sponsored events, activists and artists who contribute to cannabis acceptance
• Awarded prizes to public figures who work for cannabis liberation
• Named strains after icons of the cannabis world to honour and distinguish them
• Curated a diverse online and offline community that recognises kinship in the appreciation of cannabis
• Upheld the breeding standards that we expect from ourselves as the world’s most original seedbank
• Received numerous prizes at cannabis competitions around the world, including 13 Best Seedbank / Best Seed Company awards

Sensi Seeds is also a trusted source of information about all aspects of cannabis. The Sensi Seeds blog is written by professionals, checked by experts, and held to meticulously high standards of research. Articles on the blog are published in five languages supplied by human translators, making it unique among cannabis blogs. The Sensi Seeds blog has been:

• Credited in scientific studies published on PubMed Central, cell.com, liebertpub.com
• Credited on international news outlets such as Le Monde, Die Zeit, Radio France, RTBF, The Journal, Sat.1, Westdeutsche Zeitung, Asia Times, Marie France, Radio Canada.
• Credited on other outlets such as Atlas Obscura, Slate, Vice

Sensi Seeds: still growing

Researching and cataloguing the many as-yet uncategorised strains in the seed bank continues. Ongoing plans include Sensi Supreme, an ambitious project that aims to reduce the time needed to stabilise new cannabis strains.

Sensi Seeds’ cannabis genetics mission continues with the same dedication: preserving the world’s largest collection of cannabis strains and creating new ones, building community by blending enthusiasm with experience, furthering education with the Sensi Seeds blog, and supporting activism through efforts such as sponsoring the Last Prisoner Project.

As the world’s biggest seed bank continues to evolve, the core values remain the same: preserving cannabis genetics, building the community around them, and ensuring that both strains and community thrive for generations to come.