# Landrace hunter

> A landrace hunter travels to cannabis-growing regions to collect seed from local farmer populations, ideally with consent, credit and benefit-sharing for source communities.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace-hunter.html
- Also written: landrace hunting, landrace hunters, seed hunter, genetics hunter
- Glossary category: Grower slang and culture · Evidence: Supported
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

A landrace hunter is someone who travels to regions with traditional cannabis farming to find and collect seed from local populations, usually to preserve them, breed with them or sell them.

## In practice

Landrace hunting has saved material that would otherwise have vanished, and it has also taken farmers' work without credit or payment. A responsible collection [looks](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/bag-appeal.md) like this: farmers know what is being collected and why, they agree to it, the collector records the village or region, date, local name and growing practice, and the source community receives credit and a fair share of any benefit. Collected seed should be grown out openly, documented and shared, not reduced to a brand name.

Taking [cannabis seed](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/achene.md) across borders is illegal in many places, and access to [genetic resources](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/germplasm.md) is regulated by national law in many countries. Check local and national rules.

## Don't confuse with

- **Seed bank (vendor)**: may sell "[landrace](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace.md)" seed that was collected long ago, remade, or hybridised.
- **Biopiracy**: taking genetic resources or traditional knowledge without consent or [benefit-sharing](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/benefit-sharing.md).

## Myth check

GenetixBay position: landrace growers built the foundation of nearly every modern line and deserve far more credit. Landrace hunting vs [biopiracy](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/biopiracy.md) is a real distinction: consent, credit and compensation make the difference. See [landrace hunting and biopiracy](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landrace-hunting-and-biopiracy.md).

## Related terms

[Landrace](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace.md), [Biopiracy](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/biopiracy.md), [Benefit-sharing](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/benefit-sharing.md), [Nagoya Protocol](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/nagoya-protocol.md), [Prior informed consent](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/prior-informed-consent.md)

## Read more

- [Landrace hunting or biopiracy? Benefit-sharing, consent and cannabis](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landrace-hunting-and-biopiracy.md)
- [Landraces of the world: an overview](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landraces-of-the-world.md)

## Sources

1. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 2011. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. https://www.cbd.int/abs/
2. Clarke RC, Merlin MD. 2013. Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. University of California Press.