How Hunter could be hemp industry heartland, as cannabis stigma eases

The Australian Industrial Hemp Conference will be held at Pokolbin in April, where experts will consider how the sector can fulfil its potential.

Industry representatives, politicians, researchers and students will discuss advances in crop management and product development.

They will highlight the commercial uses of industrial hemp and regulations that need changing for the sector to flourish.

Australian Hemp Council president Tim Schmidt said the Hunter had big potential to grow the hemp sector, given its history.

Mr Schmidt said the region had "a long history of hemp production and innovation".

"There were some fantastic fibre crops produced in the Hunter Valley over the years," he said.

But the market wasn't well developed then and hemp was caught in the stigma of cannabis.

"That's changed now," he said.

NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty and Legalise Cannabis Party's NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham will be among the conference speakers.

In February, Ms Moriarty announced that the government had established the Hemp Industry Taskforce.

"There are important gains for our state if we can foster the sector's expansion," Ms Moriarty said.

The taskforce will consider options to grow the industrial hemp industry and boost jobs in rural and regional NSW.

Industrial hemp is a high-yielding and hardy, fast growing crop.

Crops can grow four to five metres in less than six months. They outgrow weeds and require minimal, if any, herbicides and pesticides.

Commercial uses include seed, food, botanical extracts, fibre, material, fabric and building materials.

Hemp also has potential for carbon sequestration.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries said last month that the global hemp market was expected to quadruple to $18.6 billion by 2027.

It estimated that hemp was used in more than 25,000 products.

The taskforce's creation followed Mr Buckingham hosting a hemp industry roundtable last year.

Mr Buckingham said in November that incentives to grow industrial hemp should be made available in the Hunter through the NSW government's mining royalties fund.

At monthly meetings, the taskforce will set short, medium and long term objectives for the NSW industrial hemp industry.

This will include the role industrial hemp could play in the transition to a net zero, circular economy in NSW.

It will also consider barriers to the industry's production and development in NSW and seek to "harmonise industrial hemp regulation nationally".

Mr Schmidt said the sector had "huge potential", but regulations were "restricting" commercial uses of the cannabis plant.

While fibre crops could be grown, he said there were "many other aspects of the plant you can draw revenue from that aren't available because of restrictions and controls".

"We need agriculture in Australia to be able to take advantage of all aspects of the plant that are not related to THC [the main psychoactive part of the plant]," he said.

"We want the federal government to acknowledge there is a distinction between hemp and marijuana and reduce the restrictions."

Mr Schmidt said hemp and marijuana come from the cannabis plant, but were "different varieties".

He said industrial hemp was defined as cannabis with less than 1 per cent THC.

"Anything with more than 1 per cent THC is marijuana," he said.

In NSW, the Hemp Industry Act 2008 allows for cultivation and supply of low THC hemp fibre and seed production.

This occurred under "controlled conditions", without compromising NSW Police "drug enforcement strategies".

However, Ms Moriarty said the taskforce would guide the government to "reduce red tape and provide the regulatory environment to support the industrial hemp industry".

Mr Buckingham said the cannabis plant was "up to 25 times more effective at capturing carbon than forestry".

He said it offered "almost unlimited potential" for clothing, construction, food, paper and medication.

For details, visit australianindustrialhempconference.org.