Come to a head: Hemp industry advocate Lyn Stephenson is pushing for the use of hemp as a viable seed oil. Source: News Limited
A PUSH to end an outdated ban on selling hemp for human consumption could be the beginning of a lucrative growing industry in Victoria, advocates say.
Independent MP Cathy McGowan has joined Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie to call on the Federal Government to “catch up with the rest of the world” and allow the seed to be used in food production.
The push by the duo, who have called on the Federal Government to champion the industry, has been welcomed by hemp growers.
Industrial hemp contains less than 1 per cent of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana.
Hemp seeds and oil are used the world over in health bars, salad oils, non-soy tofu, non-dairy cheeses and as an additive in baked goods.
Good oil: Benalla grain trader Mark Murphy is convinced there is a seed market. Source: News Corp Australia
Lyn Stephenson, a grower and founder of the Industrial Hemp Association of Victoria, said it was crazy that politics stood in the way of economic growth.
Victoria was the first state to pass legislation in 1998 permitting growers, under licence, to produce industrial hemp, but the industry has not progressed because of restrictions on consumption.
Seven legal growers remain and harvests produce low-value products such as horse bedding and garden mulch rather than the more lucrative hemp seed for consumption.
Ms Stephenson grows about a hectare of agricultural hemp on her 32ha farm near Spring Hill, about an hour from Melbourne.
“There is huge demand worldwide — Canada has a $500 million hemp seed industry — and people are crying out to use the seeds in their food product,” she said.
“It has been proven time and again to be perfectly safe and it remains ludicrous, really, that governments still rally against the industry.”
She said more farmers would grow hemp if they knew there was a market for it, and compared the industry to that of poppy seeds.
“We eat them and at the same time we have another variety of poppy that produces opium. It’s grown under licence just as agricultural hemp is,” she said.
Ms McGowan said she had been lobbied by businesses in her electorate that believed there was a healthy market awaiting the product and, if approved, it would benefit rural and regional Australia.
She and crossbench colleague Mr Wilkie say federal and state regulation has frustrated farmers who look enviously at the industry worth millions of dollars in Britain, Canada and the US.
Regulatory body Food Standards Australia New Zealand recommended the approval of industrial hemp for human consumption in 2012 but laws remain unchanged.
Politicians have argued that approving hemp for human consumption would send mixed messages as it would be inconsistent with existing drug policies.
Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association has argued that the removal of prohibitions would provide farmers with a “greater range of potential products and encourage more to consider growing it commercially”.
Benalla grain supplier Mark Murphy, who runs Mirfak, said there was substantial interest in using hemp seeds from Australian food producers.
“It’s very popular in a lot of products around the world and I have no doubt demand would grow and grow if it was approved by governments,” he said.
“There just hasn’t been the political will for it, but an industry like mine is always looking to the next product. We’ve had things liked pearl barley and quinoa boom and no doubt hemp seeds would be the same.”
A spokeswoman for Federal Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash said the decision was the responsibility of the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation and it would be raised at the next meeting in New Zealand in January.
'Missing out' on big hemp industry
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