" Nevil Schoenmakers, The Seed Bank, and the Birth of the Cannabis Seed Industry "

Nevil Schoenmakers (1956-2019) was an Australian cannabis breeder of Dutch origin. Nevil helped found the international cannabis seed trade in Amsterdam in the 1980s. His work as a breeder, marketer and distributor of seeds helped transform how and where cannabis was grown by making hybrids acclimatized easily accessible.

NEVIL SCHOENMAKERS & THE DUTCH SEED BANK

Nevil Schoenmakers founded and ran Seed Bank from 1984 to 1990, playing a pioneering role in the international cannabis seed trade. The Seed Bank was a trailblazer, becoming the first Dutch company to advertise openly in High Times magazine and ship seeds globally, including to the United States. Alongside his partners, Nevil established a model that other seed companies followed for decades. They have developed their own seed lines, nutrient formulas and varieties for Dutch coffee shops. By the late 1980s, Seed Bank had become a major player, doing millions of dollars in annual revenue and distributing approximately 100,000 cannabis seeds worldwide each year..

One of the distinctive features of Nevil and the Seed Bank during this period was the way in which Nevil actively sought out exceptional and diverse germplasm from around the world. In the 1980s, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Nevil traveled to Pakistan to obtain Afghan genetics directly from the region, collecting Mazar-I-Shariff seeds offered by the Seed Bank, both pure and hybridized. Nevil also collected wild Ruderalis seeds from roadsides in northern Hungary near the Russian border, introducing day-neutral or autoflowering genes into modern cannabis varieties for recreational use..

In addition to these and other traditional landrace varieties that Nevil researched and collected in the Netherlands and abroad, Nevil also collected a wide range of early modern hybrids developed by growers and breeders in the United States . In the 1980s, Nevil met David Watson in the Netherlands and purchased several hybrid strains, including Skunk no.1, Original Haze and California Orange..

“ Nevil was able to source Northern Lights and other varieties from the Pacific Northwest thanks to Greg McAllister and the Northern Lights Crew.”

“Another important figure in the history of the Seed Bank and in the release of the first elite hybrids from the United States to Amsterdam was Jim 'Dogless' Ortega.”

Nevil has sourced many legendary exclusively cloned strains, including G13, Kush 4 and Garlic Bud, as well as Maple Leaf Indica seeds from Jim Ortega. Old Seed Bank catalogs, as well as Nevil's many posts on the Mr. Nice forums, document the many varieties and sources that helped form many of the modern hybrids produced in the Netherlands since the 1980s and distributed throughout the world.

“As a breeder, Nevil made significant contributions to the development of modern recreational cannabis varieties.”

Before finding a copy of Mel Frank's Marijuana Grower's Guide, which Nevil credits as sparking his interest in growing and breeding cannabis, Nevil already had experience breeding plants and 'animals. He had participated in various breeding clubs. He brought this experience to his cannabis breeding work and often spoke about the importance of the lineage method, transgressive breeding for extreme phenotypes, and the development of "nicking patterns" common in cannabis breeding. animal breeding.

Nevil worked with relatively small populations, applying these concepts extensively by selecting and crossing only the best expressions to create many elite modern hybrids.

Nevil worked with Haze by selecting parents for crossing and developing hybrids, which constitutes one of its lasting legacies and a major influence on modern cannabis. Nevil obtained original Haze seeds from David Watson after Watson came to Amsterdam in the mid-80s. For these seeds, Nev selected two breeding males, Haze A and Haze C..

These selections were used extensively by Nevil (and others) to create many of the Haze hybrids that emerged in the Netherlands over the years, including Northern Lights 5 x Haze, Jack Herer, Silver Haze, Nevil’s Haze, Super Silver Haze, Mango Haze et Amnesia Haze.

In addition to his work with Haze hybrids, Nevil also left a considerable legacy with the many classic Indica strains he collected, bred and distributed.

Strains such as Northern Lights #1, Northern Lights #2, Northern Lights #5, Hashplant, G13, Kush 4, Garlic Bud, Maple Leaf Indica, Hawaiian Indica, Mazar, etc., were particularly suitable for indoor cultivation as well than outdoor cultivation in the northern hemisphere. They produced uniform, robust plants loaded with powerful, high-yielding flowers.

Nevil was also one of the first to introduce autoflowering or day-neutral genetics from Ruderalis into the modern hybrid recreational cannabis gene pool.

Nevil has made several crosses with Ruderalis and varieties like Skunk no1, Haze, Northern Lights and Dwarf Oaxacan. He notably used Northern Lights #1 x Ruderalis in his backcrossing project with Northern Lights #5. Thus, Nevil was one of the pioneers to experiment with autoflowering genetics.

Autoflowering strains now dominate large sectors of the cannabis seed industry and will likely play an increasingly important role in future crop development.

After High Times published the famous article "Inside Cannabis Castle - the incredible story of the man who wanted to be the king of cannabis" in 1987, the DEA officially took notice of Nevil and the Seed Bank.

In 1988, the DEA launched a special law enforcement operation called Operation Green Merchant. Green Merchant targeted seed banks and grow shops that advertised in High Times in order to identify cultivators and disrupt the entire domestic cannabis market. On October 26, 1989, the DEA launched coordinated raids on grow stores across the country.

In 1990, Nevil was indicted by federal prosecutors on numerous charges of drug trafficking conspiracy, after his American distributor, Ray Anthony Cogo, became a federal cooperating witness/informant. Ironically, Ray Cogo became an informant to save himself due to a case involving him in Michigan that had absolutely nothing to do with Nevil's Seed Bank. He provided pages containing names and addresses of thousands of Seed Bank customers, ruining many lives in the process to protect himself.

Nevil spent 11 months in prison fighting extradition to the United States, where he faced multiple life sentences. Eventually, Nevil was forced to sell Cannabis Castle and the Seed Bank genetic library to Ben Dronkers of Sensi Seeds. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Nevil collected, crossed and distributed the cannabis genetics that form the backbone of most modern recreational cannabis varieties. His willingness to take risks to distribute cannabis seeds openly, making them easily accessible and widely available around the world, revolutionized cannabis culture, sparking an unprecedented, ultimately unstoppable, wave of growers.

Evidence Affidavit (PDF):

Affidavit du procureur 1990 - ICI

Affidavit du procureur 1994 - HERE

Prosecutor's Affidavit 1994 (Ray Cogo Snitch Nevil)- HERE

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