HEMP: SUPPORT URGED FOR INDUSTRY

Hemp farming could boost the South Canterbury and New Zealand economy
if trials, expected to get the go-ahead next month, are successful,
Woodbury organic farmer David Musgrave said on Monday.

He is calling on regional leaders and farmers to get behind the hemp
industry to ensure that local opportunities are harnessed.

Growing hemp has been illegal in New Zealand because of its
relationship with cannabis, but the Government is next month expected
to give the all-clear for the trials to go ahead.

If that is the case, Mr Musgrave said he would have his first crop
planted at his Woodbury farm in spring.

He is also trying to arrange trials at other venues around Canterbury.

"You can virtually trial as big an area as you can justify and I
would be looking at, probably, one to two hectares.

"We would be cold pressing the seeds for hemp oil, which has great
health benefits. It contains a lot of essential fatty acids that
other vegetable oils do not."

Mr Musgrave said he was in the unique position that pressing hemp oil
would complement his existing business, organic flax seed oil.

He said the hemp seed cake - the part of the seed left when most of
the oil had been removed - would be used to make hemp seed butter.

"It is yummier than peanut butter and has more health benefits. It is
full of quality protein as well as fibre.

"And there is a Nelson manufacturer who has the international patent
for hemp fibre insulation. He uses everything that is left after we
take the seeds, which gives farmers a double whammy.

"I think regional leaders need to get to work to ensure these
benefits are kept in the region.

"Leaders in Motueka and Taihape are already lobbying to get the
business there."

Mr Musgrave's said his flax oil business was growing and he was
always looking for other organic farmers to grow for him.