‘Devoted to Better’: Bountiful Farms Lets Consumers Choose Their Favorite Genetics with Bounti Hunters Kit

As one of Colorado’s first medical cannabis patients at the age of 18, Zach Taylor, now head of cultivation for Massachusetts-based cannabis operator Bountiful Farms, says he is committed to constantly improving the genetics that the regulated cannabis market has to offer.

“One of the things that we really prided ourselves with from the very beginning was really wanting to be devoted to better,” Taylor says. “We really felt like we wanted to be devoted and stewards to the plant, and part of that is with education. This is … one of the pinnacles of why we started Bountiful Farms.”

Fascinated by the phenotypical variations in the cannabis plant, Taylor wanted to let Bountiful Farms’ customers see the nuances of the genetics and allow them to provide feedback on the traits they find most appealing.

The company conducted one of Massachusetts’ largest pheno hunts with 4,000 seeds from 30 breeders to determine which genetics to initially release into the market, and now, it is giving consumers the chance to participate in its ongoing pheno hunts.

During the months of September and October, Bountiful Farms is offering its “Bounti Hunters” at-home pheno hunt kit through select retailers, including Theory Wellness, Rise/Affinity, Botera, SEED and ATG, as well as Bountiful Farms’ medical dispensary in Natick, Mass. The company will offer two different variations of five of its cultivars, with a new product drop each week at a different retailer.

During the week of Sept. 11, Theory Wellness will sell a Rainbow Belts kit; during the week of Sept. 18, Rise/Affinity will sell a Strawberry Gary kit; during the week of Sept. 25, Botera will sell a Sugar Shack kit; during the week of Oct. 2, SEED will sell a Papaya Slapper kit; and during the week of Oct. 11, ATG will sell a Zeclair kit.

The Bounti Hunters kits will allow consumers to sample these genetics, provide feedback to Bountiful Farms and ultimately choose their favorite cultivars.

Each kit includes two one-eighth jars, each containing one distinct phenotype of the cultivar, as well as rolling papers, lighters, stickers, magnets and pins. Also enclosed in each box is a video from Taylor with descriptions of each cultivar and instructions on how to navigate the selection process. Each kit also includes a QR code with a survey that allows participants to record observations and preferences of each phenotype.

“We’re certainly not one of the only ones to provide various phenos in the market, but what we’re trying to do on the education front is we’re trying to offer them side by side, where you can peel the curtain [back] and go behind,” Taylor says. “When you drop a hundred seeds, you’re going to have four or five phenotypical variations to cross all of those hundred. Some are going to be closer to their mother, some are going to resemble closer to their father.”

Bountiful Farms aimed to provide a pheno hunting experience to the public that is both palatable and fun, he says. When a customer picks up a kit and receives the two variations of the same cultivar, he likens it to someone trying two different wines and noting the nuances between the two.

In the first product drop, in the kit with Rainbow Belts, one of the cultivars has a bit more pinene, for example. Customers can sample both variations and then use the QR code to complete a survey that Taylor says is based on some of the more prominent cannabis competitions that growers enter, such as the Emerald Cup.

“That survey is very similar to any other cup, where you would be grading one through five based on taste, based on cure, based on overall quality,” he says. “Then, we’re asking [questions] on the variations and for some of the feedback and the misnomers of the differences between the two, and really trying to highlight if someone really feels like one pheno is a better representation than the other.”

The questionnaire also delves into the individuality of each phenotype, Taylor says, and ultimately asks whether the consumer enjoyed the experience with the genetics and which of the two phenotypes Bountiful Farms should put in production.

This interactive experience not only helps educate consumers on cannabis cultivation and genetic variations, but it also helps Bountiful Farms build brand loyalty with its customers. The Bounti Hunters kits also allow the company to offer the cultivars that consumers actually want.

“We have 20 cultivators downstairs, and through all of us, we all have our palates and our likes,” Taylor says. “If you only cooked what you wanted to eat, you would be doing a disservice. And so, we’re trying to provide that overall customer experience because we want to grow what the customer wants, not necessarily only what we want. I think it’s really important [for consumers] to provide the feedback at this point.”

Bountiful Farms tried to highlight local genetics in the Bounti Hunters kits.

“We really want to celebrate the East Coast, and we want to celebrate local genetics and local breeders,” Taylor says. “Yes, California’s great; yes, Colorado’s great; [but] we want to celebrate the East Coast. There are a lot of great breeders out in Colorado and California, but that's known. So, that was one of the things that we were proud of, too, is … three out of the five strains that we provided in this kit are either proprietary [to Bountiful Farms] or are from local breeders.”

Taylor hopes the at-home pheno hunting experience will help consumers understand phenotypical variations and how they impact cannabis cultivation.

“I think it’s cool how the market's becoming more educated, and we are becoming wine snobs in that sense of really wanting those flavonoids and those key tones and those terpenes and all those expressions to come out,” he says. “We’re hoping that through us being able to provide this platform, the consumer will be able to not only provide us feedback, but hopefully be able to educate themselves.”