The Marlborough born and bred team behind the country’s largest cannabis cultivator, Puro, are celebrating after being crowned Supreme Award winner at the Marlborough Business Excellence Awards.
Puro, co-founded by Sank Macfarlane and Tim Aldridge, won the Excellence in Primary Industries Award and was a finalist in the Excellence in Innovation and Excellence in Sustainability Awards, before claiming the Supreme Award, marking a watershed moment for the region’s emerging industry.
“We’re two lads from Blenheim taking Marlborough to the world,” said Tim Aldridge, Puro’s Chairman.
“Growing up, we’ve watched Marlborough become synonymous with premium Sauvignon Blanc which has been an incredible success story,” says Aldridge. “In 1990, New Zealand exported $18 million of wine. Today that number sits over $2.5 billion, with 80% produced right here in Marlborough. We want Marlborough medical cannabis to become as trusted and respected as Marlborough wine, and these awards recognise we’re on the right track” says Aldridge.
Like the wine pioneers before them, Macfarlane and Aldridge identified Marlborough’s unique climate and soils as ideal for producing a premium agricultural product. Working with globally recognised cannabis agronomist Tom Forrest, whose international research confirmed the region’s potential, they’ve built New Zealand’s largest medicinal cannabis operation across sites in Waihopai and Kekerengu.
Innovation has been central to Puro’s success. With research support from the Ministry of Primary Industries the company has pioneered “live drying” technology, flash-freezing cannabis flowers at harvest before freeze-drying them. This preserves the plant’s full therapeutic profile while solving harvest bottlenecks – and has made Puro the only supplier of live-dried organic medicinal cannabis products globally.
Puro CEO Sank Macfarlane says it’s been a breakthrough year for Puro, with major distribution agreements signed in Australia and the United Kingdom, including a $16 million export deal with UK distributor IPS Pharma for what will be the world’s largest organic cannabis shipment.
“Last year Puro exported 75% of all New Zealand medicinal cannabis, three times more than all other licensed producers combined, and we’re scaling up fast,” says Macfarlane.
“We’ll be planting 75,000 seedlings into our organic Kekerengu fields in this season, 60,000 more than we did the year before. And because we’re growing so much more, we’re also investing in new processing equipment at our purpose-built facility,” says Macfarlane.
“To help us meet surging international demand we’re also developing a contract growing model, similar to Zespri’s kiwifruit framework. It’s an approach that will enable more regional landowners and iwi to participate in the industry, creating additional skilled jobs and economic opportunities across Marlborough and the South Island.
Marlborough Chamber of Commerce Kylie Cornelius says Puro’s awards are well-deserved.
“Despite facing significant regulatory setbacks and challenges, Puro has stayed the course and built something remarkable. Their business showcases the best of our region – it embraces new technology, invests in skilled local people, and builds on our incredible climate and land. It’s going to be incredibly exciting to watch them grow and continue putting our region on the global stage,” says Cornelius.
Aldridge says Puro is a proud local business who love showcasing Marlborough and Kaikōura to the world.
“These awards belong to our entire team and the communities who have supported us from day one,” Aldridge says. “There’s been some incredibly tough times as we’ve navigated our way through the challenges of starting an industry from scratch, and we’re incredibly grateful to our dedicated staff, our local suppliers, and everyone who believed in what we were setting out to do.”
“Marlborough’s wine industry showed the world what this region could achieve with vision, care and courage. We’re proving it can be done again – building a sustainable future for one of New Zealand’s next great primary industries, right here at home.”
Photo credit: Lisa Duncan Photography
