Benson Arbor

He brings a unique perspective to the cannabis industry as one of the few growing since first obtaining a medical card in the early 2000s. He built experience through 15 years of medical cannabis cultivation with a dedication to providing exceptional quality at an affordable price—a journey that began in California before taking him to Oregon. You might know them under a different name, previously operating as Benson Elvis (a name that pays homage to the beloved family dog and his lip-curled smile), they are now in the middle of switching the company branding over to Benson Arbor to define the future of the company.

Born in California, Noah and his family have lived in Oregon for six years. After graduating from Santa Clara University, he began growing for a medical dispensary in the Bay Area earlier than most. The first and only farmer in the family, Noah’s passion for the cannabis plant drove him eagerly towards the business.

“I got a California Med Card in 2005 and started growing in apartments, then moved to commercial buildings,” he said. “I was running an indoor commercial operation in Oakland and Berkeley when I saw the opportunity to grow outdoors.”

Noah credits his decision to switch to outdoor growing as profit-driven. He saw other major outdoor operations growing hundreds and thousands of pounds per year, something difficult to accomplish on the indoor side. Now that he’s been farming outdoors since 2009.

It’s clear to him that the highest quality cannabis comes from growing outdoors using organic techniques in living soil. He reminisced that in the beginning, if you wanted to grow a legal cannabis business, anyone could do that in Oregon. He began growing medical cannabis in Oregon in 2014 and then moved into recreational growing in 2017 and 2018.

“It seemed exciting, like a new Wild West,” he said. “When legalization came, and there was a chance to have a licensed farm, we jumped at it.”

Benson Arbor is still Excited about New Strains Each Year

While the core team at Benson Arbor is about five people, about 20 people are working Noah’s land as the farm is gearing up to cut their clones within the next two months. Noah admittedly has a healthy obsession with cannabis genetics, and his team just began their own breeding program that will break in the market next year.

“The genetic potential of a plant is your limiting factor to good cannabis,” he said. “No matter how good you are at growing, you can only do as well as the genetics will allow.”

The reason he works so diligently on finding the right plants that will produce beautiful products, Noah pointed out, is because working-class people deserve excellent quality cannabis that they can afford.

“Oregon is very value-driven,” Noah said. “Our goal as a brand is to create a high-quality product at an affordable price.”