Hemp firms cash-in on boom crop
The humble hemp plant has a multitude of uses, from fabric to cosmetics and animal food. Glen McConnell reports.
Campaigners are hoping to raise awareness of New Zealand’s potential multimillion dollar hemp industry, in a special week of events starting tomorrow.
The Hemp Industries Association will be meeting with the Ministry of Health, farmers and the public, in a push to advertise the plant’s 50,000 practical uses and benefits, said the organisation’s treasurer, Richard Barge.
The group lobbies Government with the aim of loosening constraints on hemp and encouraging research into the field.
Currently, Kiwi farmers have to pay a $511 license fee to grow hemp.
Barge said: ‘‘New Zealand is a great place to grow hemp and the product has multiple uses outside of what people usually associate with it - medicinal and recreational cannabis. There are different varieties of plant and with sustainability becoming a key part of manufacturing, the market is growing fast.’’
Hemp can be pressed into fabric, used in construction and consumed as a pill. But it can’t get you high.
Depending on who you talk to, hemp is a miracle plant.
In New Zealand, companies are harvesting hemp oil for salad dressings, health supplements and skin care products. Hemp fibres are being spun by upholsterers and designers, and even compacted into hemp bricks by construction companies.
The allure of the plant, its many potentials and its cohesion with the environment, has garnered the plant some committed fans.
Dave and Anne Jordan are two unwavering supporters.
In 2005, Dave sold his gliding company in Franz Joseph to start producing hemp products. ‘‘It’s the new economy,’’ he says. The couple started the company, Hemp Farm, in 2008. It’s been eight years, and they’re still not making a profit, Dave says. But he isn’t worried.
‘‘Profit’s got nothing to do with it at this stage, it’s all about futureproofing the economy.’’
According to Dave, New Zealand’s about to go through ‘‘a revolutionary stage’’.
The couple invest all their spare cash into the hemp farm, he says. They want to remain ahead of the hemp game.
The way Dave sees it, once the farming industry realises how lucrative the plant can be, everyone will want a part of it.
Environmental supermarket chain Commonsense Organics stocks a range of hemp based products, including protein powder.
Executive Director Marion Wood admits, selling hemp foods is illegal. ‘‘We have pet food,’’ she says. Is she concerned that people could be consuming the hemp protein ‘‘pet food’’ powder as well?
‘‘If it’s a nutritious food then why would I be concerned? But we don’t encourage people to break the law, even if the law is silly,’’ she responds.
Although hemp is a form of cannabis, it has no euphoric effects. Despite its near nonexistant levels of THC (the psychoactive substance in marijuana) – less than 0.35 per cent – hemp remains regulated by the Misuse of Drugs Act.
In 2002 and again in January 2015, New Zealand and Australia’s joint Food Standards Authority advised the Ministers for Food Safety to allow hemp to be used in food. The then Minsters rejected both recommendations.
The authority is again considering a proposal to allow the sale of foods containing hemp. Minister, Jo Goodhew, says she will support the sale of low THC hemp seed food.
By the end of the year, Goodhew expects the authority to report back with a proposal outlining how hemp can be legally designated as food.
Marta Maria Camara opened her skin care company Martina Organics in 2013.
She tells customers hemp is a ‘‘completely amazing’’ oil, because of its beneficial properties.
She begins to list these beneficial properties off: ‘‘Antioxidants, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc. . . . A, B1, B2, B3, C, D, E...’’
But while the products made from hemp offer an alternative to dairy, the industry shows no sign of overtaking the dairy trade.
There’s an estimated 11,400 dairy farms in New Zealand, compared to 42 hemp farms.
The head of the BHU Future Farming Centre, Dr Charles Merfield, agrees, hemp offers consumers and farmers new opportunities for business. But it won’t take on dairy, he says.
‘‘In terms of revolutionising New Zealand agriculture, it hasn’t revolutionised anywhere else.’’