I recently read an article* about how New Zealand farmers are setting aside land to raise hemp for use in cereals, oils and textiles. For eight decades New Zealand banned the growing of hemp, the non-narcotic strain of cannabis, however research into growing hemp beginning from around 2006 and progressing to a point where the regulations covering the crop were amended at the end of 2018 allowed for the cultivation of low-THC industrial hemp and processing and trading in the seeds and stalk to produce hemp food and fibre products.
I use hemp oil as well as hemp seeds in my smoothies and on salads. As a food source it has a warm nutty flavour and offers fibre (from the stalk of the plant) which can be used in wool blended carpet, cloth, concrete, insulation, matting, health, wellbeing (for use in treating joint ailments) and solutions to environmental positives (an acre of hemp breathes four times the carbon dioxide and breathes out four times as much oxygen per acre of trees). It is heat, mildew, pest, light and rot resistant.
In terms of investment Hemp New Zealand estimates that the growth potential for the industry could be worth $2 billion to New Zealand by 2030, creating 20,000 regional jobs. This would be through the production of industrial fibre products, textiles and natural health remedies.
*NZ Herald article 2 October 2020
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