A shipment of hemp seeds has been exported from Israel for the very first time. The shipment that headed for the United States last week was an “experimental and initial shipment”, Israel’s Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Israel has the capacity to leave its mark on industry and to be among the world leaders,” added the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Oded Forer.
“The export of Cannabis seeds invites us to expand the diversity of Israeli agricultural exports and strengthens local agriculture,” Oded Forer added. It also “exploits Israel’s relative advantage in an area that is still considered preliminary”, he added.
The shipment carried seeds produced by the Israeli company BetterSeeds, which has created the “world’s first stable and uniform cannabis seeds” in its words.
“I hope that once they are really impressed with the performance of our genetics, we will receive the orders,” said Ido Margalit, founder and CEO of the company BetterSeeds.
Margalit pointed out that just exporting this experimental cargo was a real achievement. “It was not even possible for us to show customers outside of Israel what we do, because it was legally impossible to do so,” he said, referring to Israel’s latest export laws. medical cannabis to which hemp varieties are attached.
“By using our seeds,” he continues, “they will get the necessary uniformity that they cannot get with their seeds today. »
The only difficulty, Margalit added, “is the fact that for us, producing hemp seeds in Israel is quite expensive because the current regulations for medical cannabis also apply to hemp. »
Oded Forer said in the statement that allowing cannabis seed exports will benefit Israeli businesses.
“Increasing the range of exports and extending it to cannabis products will deepen existing markets and penetrate new ones, while tapping into the growing wave of demand for cannabis products with medical value,” he said. -he declares.
