September 2024
AHC President’s Report
Welcome to our September Report
Paws for Wellness – If you check out our website you will see we have raised a little over $20,000 along with further pledges yet to be submitted. If your business is affected and you are yet to contribute, please check out the sponsorship packages here.
We have had some great coverage in various rural papers to highlight the excessive bureaucratic requirements and its consequences by the APVMA. On 25th September we had a meeting with the office of the federal minister for Agriculture, Senator Julie Collins. They were unaware of the issues we had previously raised, so the meeting was a benefit in that respect, however it was made clear to us the minister had no input into the processes applied by the APVMA. Our question was: If we consider the APVMA is making an erroneous declaration, what avenues can we utilize to address our concerns? As far as we can determine from the response, there is none. We were provided with some key bureaucratic contacts within the Federal Department of Agriculture which we will follow up on, but as usual, our voice is not loud enough, which is why we need your support.
AHC Hemp Connect Winter Forum – The forum committee, led by Lisa Flower, has determined that we focus on the hemp fibre industry and in particular the areas of building and carbon sequestration. A key outcome we will be striving for is to bring institutional capital into the hemp industry and accelerate the adoption of hemp production into mainstream agriculture. This forum will be held at La Trobe University on 25th, 26th and 27th of June. More to follow.
Hemp Industrial Materials Supply Chain Workshop.
At our last Council meeting Richard Barge – President of the New Zealand Hemp Industries Association (NZHIA), gave us a presentation on a workshop on hemp fibre in Oregon US, where 20 delegates from NZ were funded to attend by the NZ government (Australian government, take note). The key outcome here being that the forum has developed a roadmap for the industry world wide which covers barriers and opportunities for fibre use with developers, investors and regulators etc. Once produced, we will have this document available on our website. You can also view the most recent NZHIA newsletter here. https://nzhia.com/nzhia-public-newsletter/nzhia-public-newsletter-august-september-2024/
State Reports
Victorian Hemp Association
Lyn Stephenson has announced her resignation as president of the Victorian Hemp Association. It has to be said that Lyn has been a real stalwart for the Victorian hemp industry. Lyn initiated the establishment of a national hemp organisation many years ago. Her persistence as an advocate for the industry is legendary and her contribution to Victorian government policy development on behalf of the industry has provided a firm and clear voice for our hemp industry. Many thanks to Lyn for her contribution to the Australian hemp industry.
Tasmanian Hemp Association
Ian Whitehouse has been confirmed as the new councilor for Tasmania, taking over from Tim Crow. Ian is based near Hobart and has some great plans for hemp industry development in Tasmania, we look forward to Ian’s participation.
South Australia – Mick Andersen
A winter dryland hemp trial paddock of 1 ha was sown 29th August with Excalibur, Ruby, Bundy Gem and Henola, and MS77 sown 9th September. Most have emerged in 9 days but low germ is an issue with some varieties.
iHemp NSW
Regional Field Event
A great turn out for the Narrabri Annual Field DayThe inaugural two day, iHempNSW Regional Field Event on 11-12 September was an exceptional opportunity to network, learn and collaborate across industries. Sixteen iHempNSW members and friends found their way to Narrabri for two days of networking, learning, and collaborating, and one night of serious socialising!
Day one – The Annual Narrabri Field Day.
Key learnings – The dual-purpose varietal, ‘Ruby,’ showed impressive results in cover cropping comparisons, highlighting the potential of winter dry-land hemp, and demonstrating proof of concept for early planting, offering exciting opportunities for central and northwestern NSW.
Special thanks to Guy Roth, Director of Northern Agriculture, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, for the invitation and hosting a wonderful event.
Day two – Keytah
Covering 65,000 acres, Keytah is a large-scale, B Corp certified, sustainable cotton operation, owned by David and Danielle Statham.
The group of sixteen iHempNSW members and friends were hard pressed to close their mouths, with one after the other impressive presentation highlighting their innovative, world-class systems and technologies. These included Downforce carbon monitoring, fibre tracing from seed to shelf, an integrated solar, hydrogen and ammonia energy system and water efficiency irrigation systems.
A massive thank you to David and Danielle Stantham. You can read more about the two-day event here.
October Webinar – Building with Hemp
WE held our October webinar with guest speakers and iHemp NSW members, Amanda & Harrison Marsh from Otetto and corporate member, Klara Marosszeky from Australian Hemp Masonry Co.
You can view a recording for this event, details here on the iHemp NSW Events page.
You can read full updates and other news here.
AHC Working Groups
Research – Stuart Gordon
A working group from the EU, Canada, USA and Australia, under the auspices of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), now known as ASTM International, is meeting to raise awareness of hemp fibre testing standards and capacity. As a first step they are surveying laboratories around the world for their capacity to measure hemp fibre (and hurd) properties. There are plans to send out samples of hemp bast and fibre for analysis by the laboratories that have nominated test methods in the survey.
The working group is meeting fortnightly on MS Teams at an ungodly hour.
Fibre Group – David Brian
At our first meeting on August 27 (future meetings 3rd Tues of the month) it was decided to focus on gaining information from around the world on hemp fibre standards required by the various different markets hemp fibre would go into. The group will also be gaining knowledge on what machinery is required to bring Australian hemp fibre up to spec for further value adding by processors around the world. Some members of the group will be attending the Global Source Expo in Melbourne in November to gather further knowledge on the required standards by leading textile processors.
Agronomy – Rob Eccles
In SE Queensland, we have had four new varieties were granted approval from PBR trials. IP Australia and the holders of the granted genetics will share details.
Several seed multiplication crops were harvested in July and August. The poor recovery per hectare compared to seed set per hectare clearly shows the need for a desiccant like Diquat (that was not used) and that small-hectare-scaled production is problematic for getting contract harvesters focused on what is best for the crop.
Using two of the paddocks that did not have good harvest recovery has presented the opportunity to create two strategic demonstration crops and a blank canvas for research. Both of these paddocks where flailed and had a knockdown herbicide applied. Then, the paddocks were irrigated to bring up volunteer plants. So far, a bush foods project will use one of these crops to demonstrate alternate crops to complement native bush foods. We also have a building material processor looking to take samples for harvest timing, and it effects on quality. One University of Qld researcher is doing an alternate fertiliser experiment in part of one of these blocks.
We have priced and allocated herbicide trials for both herbicide safety and maximum herbicide reside limits.
Several hemp industry members travelled to Narrabri on 11/09/24 to view winter-sown hemp crops. The goal is to demonstrate proof of concept regarding hemp’s frost tolerance, provided it is not flowering. We expect to see evidence that this has been the case.
As the Deputy CEO of the Northern Territory Farmers Association (NT Farmers), I am committed to advancing agricultural development in Northern Australia. 
Jaimie Milling is a fourth-generation farmer who has been in the agriculture industry all his life.
Ian Whitehouse, Co-Founder of 888 Fortune Enterprise, Tasmanian Development Corporation and Hemp Tasmania plays a guiding role in decision making and development strategies. 
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