About Puro

Grown in New Zealand. Guided by science.

Organic medicinal cannabis grown in New Zealand

Puro was established in 2018, founded on a commitment to improve lives by growing premium medicinal cannabis.

What started with a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign has grown into New Zealand’s largest medicinal cannabis exporter. Today Puro accounts for 92% of all medicinal cannabis exported from New Zealand, with certified organic sun-grown flower reaching patients in Australia and the United Kingdom. With 65,000 plants harvested this season and plans to scale further, the operation at Kekerengu is putting New Zealand grown medical cannabis on the global map.

Where we grow

Our coastal Marlborough farm enjoys nearly 2,800 sunshine hours a year. Iodine-rich sea air supports plant health naturally, while our mineral-rich soil is alive with beneficial organisms. Warm days and cool Pacific nights help build the complex chemical profiles that define our products.

Our Kēkerengū farm has been in the Macfarlane family for more than five generations, and that connection remains at the heart of the business today. Sank Macfarlane, co-founder and CEO, and Winston Macfarlane, Cultivation Director, bring that generational knowledge to everything Puro grows.

Puro partners with Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura, the Māori tribal authority of the Kaikōura region. It is a relationship built on a shared connection to the land and a shared commitment to doing things the right way.

The science behind Sun-grown cannabis

Columbia University Professor of Material Science Colin Nuckolls is one of the world’s leading voices on cannabis chemistry.

His research confirms what we’ve long understood: full-spectrum sunlight activates photochemical pathways that produce broader chemical profiles, greater terpene diversity, and more of the compounds that matter. Indoor lighting, however sophisticated, doesn’t replicate it.

Nuckolls et al, Comparison of the Cannabinoid and Terpene Profiles in Commercial Cannabis from Natural and Artificial Cultivation, 2023. (link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9861703/)

The live-dried difference

Our live-drying process preserves the highest proportion of the terpenes and cannabinoids present in the living plant.

Live Dried Flower looks, feels and behaves differently to conventional cannabis, with larger and greener buds, a lighter texture, and aroma that reveals itself fully on vaporisation. Moisture is tightly controlled throughout processing, so you can expect smooth, consistent performance every time.

New Zealand Government-backed R&D

Puro received a $13 million New Zealand Government R&D grant which spans genetics, cultivation, post-harvest processing, live drying and workforce development. From that work we have trialled more than 200 cultivars, selecting and purpose-breeding those best suited to our environment and our methods.

BioGro certified organic

Puro is the only BioGro-certified organic medicinal cannabis producer in Australasia.

BioGro is New Zealand’s largest and most established organic certification body. Achieving certification required an in-depth review of every system and process at our Kēkerengū site — from germination through to processing and packaging — so that our end product retains its organic status throughout.