Hemp's hamstrung potential

There has been a great deal of discussion over the past couple of weeks about whether Tasmania should move to trial the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

This follows news of legislation that came into force last week in New York which legalises specific use of medicinal cannabis in forms such as capsules and vapour.

I’ll leave it to others more qualified than I to debate the merits of this proposition. However, there are important considerations and opportunities for Tasmanian farmers should such trials proceed.

The Legislative Council has announced it is going to examine the issue, even though the state government has rejected the idea.

Let’s hope that this review gets more traction than the Legislative Council’s inquiry into the industrial hemp industry in 2012. That inquiry recommended that unnecessary red tape be removed to enable this to happen. Yet there has been no action to implement any of these recommendations.

Hemp is already cultivated in Australia and New Zealand under strict licensing arrangements and is used to make fibre, textiles, paper and building materials. New Zealand already permits hemp seed oil to be sold as a food.

About 60 ha of industrial hemp is grown in Tasmania, mainly in the north and north-west. Planting has not expanded for two reasons.

Firstly, there is far too much state-based regulation and red tape for farmers to be able to do this profitably. There are more rules around growing industrial hemp than there are for growing opium poppies – and that simply doesn’t make sense. We’ve been lobbying hard to have this reviewed, but so far to no avail.

The second stumbling block is the fact that hemp has not been allowed to be grown for food in Australia. This is out of step with other developed countries, including Europe, Canada, the US and even New Zealand.  Hemp seeds and oil are used in those countries in a range of foods including health bars, salad oils, non-soy tofu, non-dairy cheeses, and as an additive to baked goods, as well as being used as the whole seed, raw or roasted.

In 2012, we thought sense might prevail when Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) approved the use of low THC hemp seeds for use as food as seeds and seed oil in Australia. However, this decision was referred to the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation under the Australian Government’s COAG process. This group referred it to another committee; with a final recommendation expected around about now. However, we’ve recently learned that this decision has again been delayed.

So the end result of this is that a wide range of other products (oil, protein, cosmetics, seeds etc) that can increase returns at farm gate are ruled out of play. This is a severe constraint and makes production less economically viable. And that means farmers are unable to fulfil local and overseas market demand.

Removal of prohibitions on production of hemp seed and oil products will provide Tasmanian farmers with a greater range of potential products and encourage more farmers to consider growing it commercially.

Trials have shown that hemp can be produced efficiently and cost competitively here, and it offers an important opportunity for farmers to diversify.  Tasmanian farmers are now gaining a sound reputation as suppliers of consistently high quality hemp fibre. The sector clearly has the potential to expand from beyond a research or pilot stage in Tasmania into a fully commercial production phase.

However, the state and federal governments need to be progressive, adaptable, and flexible if we are to achieve this potential.

Addressing these challenges will strengthen this industry’s commercial prospects, competitiveness and natural brand into the future. It will also ease regulatory imposts and grower profitability challenges and increase overall slim financial margins in expansion, diversification and use of new technologies to adapt to the expanding domestic and export market demand.

There is no doubt a future in Tasmania for growing medicinal cannabis given the success we have in growing opium poppies. However, if we meet the sort of stonewalling that we have had with low THC industrial hemp for seeds and fibre, the omens are not good for progressing this idea.

Establishing a broader-based industrial hemp industry should be our first aim. When we’ve shown we can deliver on this, then we can move on to considering the logistics of trials of medicinal cannabis.

Tasmanian farmers are keen to rise to the challenge. We’ve demonstrated our credentials as world leaders in the production of opium poppies which are more dangerous than medicinal hemp or THC. Given the ­expertise we have with narcotics, we can do the same for hemp and, in time, medicinal cannabis.

There’s already an industry globally – Canada and the UK are producing it. Someone else will pounce on this opportunity, whether it’s another state or ­another country. Missing this chance would be yet another own goal for Tasmania.

• Cassy O’Connor: TFGA Comments on Medicinal Cannabis Potential Welcome

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Hemp's hamstrung potential