A Brief History of GTR Seeds

GTR Seeds co-founders Seth Crawford and Eric Crawford grew up in log cabin on mining claim, off the grid, and deep in the mountains of Southern Oregon. Their mother, still known as the "tomato queen" for miles around, raises thousands of heirloom starts annually for sale in the spring. Her passion for planting seeds was passed down to the brothers, as well are resiliency. Their father instilled rebellion and revolution.

Oregon Grown and Education

Seth earned a master's degree in public policy from OSU and later completed a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Oregon. After undergoing surgery for a herniated disc in 2005, Seth got his greencard, and began growing and breeding cannabis. By 2008 most of Seth's house had been gutted for grow rooms and breeding chambers. He studied cannabis policy and taught classes on the subject at OSU for several years. 

Eric studied horticulture at OSU and began growing and breeding cannabis in his closet around 2004, before graduating from school and to big outdoor grows at 2008.

They both provided their share of goods over the course of the glory days of Oregon’s medical marijuana program. 

From THC to CBD Breeding

In 2014, while completing his Ph.D. at University of Oregon, Seth designed a project to examine medical cannabis production in Oregon. He surveyed growers across the state and discovered they were producing way more than its residents could possibly consume. With in-state legalization initiatives sprouting up around that time, Seth saw the writing on the wall. Oregon’s legal cannabis industry was going to be plagued by over production. It’s the climate.

At the same time, his aging dog was battling cancer, and Seth found that CBD showed promise in alleviating some of the symptoms. At the time, the price of a pound of CBD flower was on par with, or even higher than, THC flower. With the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill, low THC, high CBD cannabis became essentially legal nationwide to grow.

The duo recognized an opportunity to produce genetics for an industry that was bound to explode - without the regulation of traditional THC cannabis. While only around 15-20% of the population enjoys getting high, and an even smaller fraction able to access cannabis legally, CBD could be grown by openly and available to all.

The Creation of Oregon CBD Seeds

Seth traveled across the country to collect unique genetics from well-known breeders, all under the guise of his Ph.D. research on cannabis policy. This is when the breeding work truly began, leading to the creation of Oregon CBD. The brothers moved from their closets to out in the open - renting out large swaths of greenhouse space for R&D. Operating under the state's industrial hemp program, they were unrestricted by plant count limits. Their initial goal was to make type III (high CBD) cannabis smell and taste as good as type I (high THC) cannabis.

They then set out to create consistent, feminized, field-ready F1 varieties that could be scaled up for farmers across the country. Both brothers are deeply analytical and view breeding as a scientific equation, rather than simply relying on trial and error like traditional pollen chuckers.

In just five years, the company went from relative unknowns to producing and selling over 60 million seeds at the height of the hemp industry's boom in 2019. Their seeds were estimated to have covered almost 30,000 acres across the US in 19 alone.

The Crawford brothers names became well-known in circles throughout cannabis, with Seth speaking at major events from the Emerald Cup to Medicinal Genomics Can-Med. 

The company reinvested profits into building state-of-the-art breeding and research labs, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of greenhouse space for seed production. They assembled a team of almost 50 brilliant minds from across the agricultural sector to dive deep into understanding the cannabis plant. Their research led to the development of the first high-CBG, CBDV, and THCV strains, as well as groundbreaking triploid cannabis genetics. 

Next they completed the most in-depth genomic sequencing of the cannabis pan-genome. Not only did they unravel how to breed for specific traits, but they also pinpointed where those traits reside within the plant's DNA. Meanwhile there varieties garnered dozens of awards in smokeable flower contests across the US.

The Decline of the Hemp Industry

Unfortunately, 2019 marked the peak of the hemp industry's rapid growth, and after that, acreage planted nationwide began to decline sharply. Seed sales for Oregon CBD followed suit. While unique cannabinoids hold medical promise, they have yet to achieve the immediate mass appeal that high-THC varieties enjoy. Maintaining the financial demands of Oregon CBD became unsustainable. The company pivoted for several years to THC flower production, putting the staff and facilities to work for Oregon’s incredibly flooded adult use market. Eventually the brothers were forced downsize most of their employees. Despite the downturn, the breeding never stopped.

GTR Seeds is Born

In 2021, when the DEA declared all cannabis seeds as hemp due to their low THC content, GTR Seeds was born. Although Seth and Eric had always maintained a steady supply of type I (high THC) genetics in their massive gene bank (pictured below), it had been essentially illegal to sell seeds as Oregon CBD under the states heavily scrutinized industrial hemp program. With years of work already invested into stable lines, and a thumbs up from the DEA, the Crawfords were finally able to bring their groundbreaking type I genetics to the general public under the GTR name.  Grow the Revolution has always been their slogan - why not make it a brand and lifestyle?

Whats Next

While GTR has been slow to catch on in today's era of hype breeders, it's only a matter of time before growers discover what true to type F1’s, triploids, novel cannabinoids such as THCV and CBG, can do. With a pile of new releases expected to drop in spring of 2025 who knows what’s in store for the company next.