AHC President’s Report – September 2022

At our last meeting we had the AHC AGM, the membership and executive remained the same being:

Tim Schmidt –  AHC President and Tasmanian Hemp Association rep.
Gail  Stubber –  AHC Vice President and iHemp WA rep.
Bernard Thomson –  AHC Treasurer and Executive Officer 
Mick Anderson – Industrial Hemp Association South Australia rep.
Lyn Stephenson – Regenerative Hemp Victoria rep.
Jaimie Milling – iHemp NSW rep.
Lauchlan Grout – Queensland Hemp Association rep.
Dominic Calder – Northern Territory Farmers rep.

Currently the Council is considering the establishment of a number of committees to cover various sectors of the industry, more details will follow in our next report.

AHC Agronomy Working Group Meeting
The Agronomy Working Group is an open forum for growers, agronomists and researchers in the hemp industry where new agronomic information and research is discussed as well as providing Industry direction for Government investment.

The Agronomy Working Group met on 28th September and did a preliminary review of the Best Management Practices guide which is coming along nicely.  Also, in an update on the CRC bid by Dr Gavin Ash, there have been further pledges for the bid taking the amount to just under $50m, which equates to close to a $200M investment into industrial hemp research over the next 10 years.

Peter Dal Santo gave us an update on the status of crop chemical permits, a most recent report will be available to members on this website in the Agronomy Forum.  We have learnt that permits PER85055 (fungicides) and PER85061 are due to expire in the near future and understand that the AIHA is in the process of renewing these permits. Given the lag time for renewals there will be a period between expired and renewal where these chemicals will not be  available for application in hemp.

The full agronomy meeting minutes will be available in the Agronomy Forum, where further chemical permits applications are discussed along with other agronomy and research issues. 

The Forum is open to growers, researchers and agronomists and agronomists and membership is by invitation. If you are interested in joining please send an email request to tim.schmidt@australianhempcouncil.org.au with details of your current activities in the hemp industry.

Agrifutures project update

Agrifutures have recently issued a hemp industry newsletter with updates on current hemp projects they are supporting throughout Australia, including:

• Industrial Hemp Variety Trials (IHVT)
• Developing Technical Plans for Processing Australian Industrial Hemp Straw
• Opening the Gates to Hemp Grazed Livestock in Australia – Phase 2
• Hemp Harvesting and Processing
• Australian Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa) Agronomic Scoping Studies; and
• Best Practice Manual for Growing, Harvesting and Storing Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa) in Australia.

Plus

• Developing A Northern Industrial Hemp Industry Value Chain
• Investigating the Potential of Hemp as a Forage Crop

These last two projects have now been concluded and details  will be published by the end of the year.

In addition to all these great projects, and as an indication of the fantastic support for our industry, Agrifutures has also announced a five year $2.5M commitment to industrial hemp research.  Agrifutures will soon seek expressions of interest from interested research organisations, industry participants and seed suppliers to be involved in the five year program of research.

News from our State members around the country

iHemp WA – Gail Stubber
The iHemp WA AGM was held last Saturday 1 October, details can be viewed on their website.

There are two companies encouraging farmers to grow in WA – Margaret River Hemp Processing have a number of farmers they are cultivating to grow Frog1 for stem for their house building.  Harvey Hemp is aiming to get a number of farmers, new and old, to grow for them and this is driving some new people into the industry.  

To date we have heard nothing back from the Select committee into Cannabis and Hemp and no discussion about the restrictions on entry into the business. The research results are still pending from the trials in WA but have been promised to be out by end of September.

NT Farmers – Dominic Calder
It’s quiet at the moment in the NT. 
First of the build up is starting to make an appearance.

Our key grower will get things started here soon, making plans to get his first crop in and out of the ground before the wet season hits. There won’t be a market for his product but he has plans to construct the internal walls of his new house with hempcrete. Watch this space.

Our small hemp community up here have agreed to hold monthly meetings to keep everyone up to date with any progress. First meeting was held this month. Hopefully this will become a fixture and grow over time. 

IVHT trials in progress, results pending. 

iHemp NSW – Jaimie Milling
NSW is very wet at the moment with all water tables, creeks, rivers and dams at full capacity.

IHemp NSW has secured a new public officer/ membership, website manager today.

We are scheduled to have discussions with the NSW DPI on aspects of the hemp industry regulations in NSW. This is a positive step moving forward for the hemp industry.

Queensland Hemp Association – Lauchlan Grout
Our AGM was held in August with 22 attendees and a great outcome, the current executive board re-elected with a new Treasurer being appointed. 

Meeting with QLD Minister of Ag confirmed for the 14th October.

Tasmanian Hemp Association – Tim Schmidt
The THA AGM was held 2 September. I stood down as president and Andi Lucas is now the THA president. Further details can be viewed on our website. 

It looks like there will be another contraction of planting in the state this year, some growers are being tempted by greater returns on other crops.

We are getting prepared for the variety trials, although some seed supply is not going smoothly given the excessive time it takes for authorities to process imported seed through quarantine.

We are waiting patiently to see what the market response will be for the awareness campaign on the benefits of Tasmanian hemp foods, which is about to commence over the next few weeks.

IHASA – Mick Andersen
Not a great deal to report in SA, we attended the fine food Australia trade show, where Ananda foods were also present.  There were strong inquiry for hemp products throughout the show.

We now know of two proposed fibre processing projects for South Australia and we will have more information to follow.  Also, there is strong interest in establishment of a hemp textile fibre industry in South Australia.

Regenerative Hemp Victoria – Lyn Stephenson
It has been quite wet here recently.  Our organisation is continuing to grow in membership and it has been encouraging to have new members volunteering for positions on the committee.

There are currently two groups looking to progress fibre processing developments, however it is early days at the moment.

We will have further news soon.

If you have information or news you would like to share with the industry, please get in touch with Bernard, our EO at info@australianhempcouncil.org.au.

As always, thanks for following