Pure Sunfarms, a wholly owned subsidiary of Village Farms International, Inc., has published peer-reviewed research in Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), highlighting the natural variability of THC potency within cannabis plants and reinforcing the need for more transparent and accurate labelling across the industry.
The study, led by the Village Farms Canadian Cannabis Research, Development & Lab team, analyzed dried cannabis flower from commercial-scale production. By measuring potency from the top, middle, and bottom of the plant known as strata, researchers observed significant variation in THC levels within individual plants and across different strains.
“Cannabis is an agricultural product. It’s alive, variable, and influenced by its environment, just like any crop. Expecting one statistic like a fixed THC percentage to define it is both unrealistic and misleading,” said Orville Bovenschen, President of Village Farms Canadian Cannabis. “Our research reinforces what growers have always known: potency varies, and it’s our goal to bring scientific rigour to an industry ready to move beyond potency as the sole measure of quality.”
The current legal framework in Canada requires licensed producers to display a single THC percentage on cannabis packaging. The findings from this study suggest this practice of fixed-number labelling does not account for the biological variability inherent to cannabis plants and misrepresents the actual cannabinoid content a consumer experiences. This provides a foundation for evidence-based policy discussions and regulatory evolution.
The full study, titled “Variability of Total THC in Greenhouse Cultivated Dried Cannabis” is now publicly available through Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Portfolio of journals.
