Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
A central Victorian woman wants to see more investment and changes to hemp laws to encourage farmers to grow the crop for housing.
Hemp cultivation has a long history; even America's first president, George Washington, was a fan.
It is used for a wide range of products, from food to textiles and even building materials.
President of the Industrial Hemp Association of Victoria, Lyn Stephenson from Lauriston in central Victoria, is currently finishing off a building made of hemp.
The rear part of her small 1890s cottage has been retro-fitted with four new hemp lime walls added, creating a combined kitchen, dining and lounge room.
Ms Stephenson said the material provided "wonderful" acoustic and insulation properties.
The lightweight woodchip-like pieces processed from the soft inner-core of the plant stem, known as the hurd, are used as an infill material and placed inside the wooden framework with an external "old fashioned" limestone render covering it.
Moisture is able to permeate the very thin layer, but not the entire thickness of the wall, allowing the building to "breathe".
"Then as the moisture in the air dries out, the wall dries out, so it's a very healthy breathing environment," Ms Stephenson said.
Hemp's image problem
Even though Victoria was the first Australian state to pass legislation permitting licensed growing of industrial hemp in 1998, Ms Stephenson said the industry had not progressed much in the last 18 years.
She thought the industry was partly hampered by having only one processing facility in Australia, in the Hunter Valley, making transport costs expensive.
The Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code prohibits selling hemp as a food which has also contributed to it being more of an "unknown" crop to farmers, she said.
"Once you can have a go at producing the food, you can have a go at other varieties and you can learn more about it and trial more varieties so that you can move into the building products and textiles," Ms Stephenson said.
She said these restrictions around food consumption further added to hemp's image problem of being associated with marijuana.
"Because it is related to marijuana, people are shy of it and don't want to invest in something that could potentially be outlawed," Ms Stephenson said.
Ms Stephenson has 2.8 hectares of the crop on her property, and is harvesting the seed into cold-pressed oil, which she is prohibited from selling as food in Australia.
"It's sold much the same way as the unpasteurized milk is sold, people know what to use it for," she said.
Her mission is to educate people about the many and varied uses of hemp and for people to understand the differences between hemp and marijuana.
"Hemp, by definition, is non-psychoactive cannabis. It doesn't have the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC that is prevalent in marijuana," Ms Stephenson said.
Tight restrictions involved in gaining a hemp grower's licence are also part of her conditions.
Ms Stephenson said currently, growers and any associated partners were required to have a police check and credit check and provide a business plan for growing the crop.
"[The State Government] want to know where you're getting the seed from, what you intend doing with the crop once you've grown it, and where you intend selling it," she said.
"Then you need to notify them within a month of planting, then when its growing you need to estimate when your harvest date is going to be and give them four weeks' notice of that," Ms Stephenson said.
Tight security is also required for storage facilities with Ms Stephenson having to keep it under "lock and key" and keeping a record of everybody who visits the crop.
"Not that anyone would want to steal it, it's like stealing a bag of wheat," she said.
Supply not meeting demand
But supply for building material is not meeting demand according to Ms Stephenson with several houses in Victoria planned or under construction.
"I have people saying, 'Can I buy some of your hurd, and where can I get it from?'" she said.
She said transport costs from Hunter Valley made it a costly material.
Ideally she would like to see hemp processing hubs around the country, so that transport costs are minimised and so farmers can send their crop to a localised central point.
"So that it's then processed and the economies of scale are brought about by lots of farmers in the same kind of hub," Ms Stephenson said.
She said the closely planted fast growing crop, which could grow up to three metres tall in about 90 to 100 days does, not need much water, and also acted as a nitrogen fixer making an ideal crop for a multitude of purposes.
Ms Stephenson will open her house to the public as part of Sustainable House Day.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hemp Houses Lead To Call For Changes In Growing Industry To Boost Production
Author: Larissa Romensky
Contact: ABC News
Photo Credit: Larissa Romensky
Website: ABC News
Hemp cultivation has a long history; even America's first president, George Washington, was a fan.
It is used for a wide range of products, from food to textiles and even building materials.
President of the Industrial Hemp Association of Victoria, Lyn Stephenson from Lauriston in central Victoria, is currently finishing off a building made of hemp.
The rear part of her small 1890s cottage has been retro-fitted with four new hemp lime walls added, creating a combined kitchen, dining and lounge room.
Ms Stephenson said the material provided "wonderful" acoustic and insulation properties.
The lightweight woodchip-like pieces processed from the soft inner-core of the plant stem, known as the hurd, are used as an infill material and placed inside the wooden framework with an external "old fashioned" limestone render covering it.
Moisture is able to permeate the very thin layer, but not the entire thickness of the wall, allowing the building to "breathe".
"Then as the moisture in the air dries out, the wall dries out, so it's a very healthy breathing environment," Ms Stephenson said.
Hemp's image problem
Even though Victoria was the first Australian state to pass legislation permitting licensed growing of industrial hemp in 1998, Ms Stephenson said the industry had not progressed much in the last 18 years.
She thought the industry was partly hampered by having only one processing facility in Australia, in the Hunter Valley, making transport costs expensive.
The Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code prohibits selling hemp as a food which has also contributed to it being more of an "unknown" crop to farmers, she said.
"Once you can have a go at producing the food, you can have a go at other varieties and you can learn more about it and trial more varieties so that you can move into the building products and textiles," Ms Stephenson said.
She said these restrictions around food consumption further added to hemp's image problem of being associated with marijuana.
"Because it is related to marijuana, people are shy of it and don't want to invest in something that could potentially be outlawed," Ms Stephenson said.
Ms Stephenson has 2.8 hectares of the crop on her property, and is harvesting the seed into cold-pressed oil, which she is prohibited from selling as food in Australia.
"It's sold much the same way as the unpasteurized milk is sold, people know what to use it for," she said.
Her mission is to educate people about the many and varied uses of hemp and for people to understand the differences between hemp and marijuana.
"Hemp, by definition, is non-psychoactive cannabis. It doesn't have the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC that is prevalent in marijuana," Ms Stephenson said.
Tight restrictions involved in gaining a hemp grower's licence are also part of her conditions.
Ms Stephenson said currently, growers and any associated partners were required to have a police check and credit check and provide a business plan for growing the crop.
"[The State Government] want to know where you're getting the seed from, what you intend doing with the crop once you've grown it, and where you intend selling it," she said.
"Then you need to notify them within a month of planting, then when its growing you need to estimate when your harvest date is going to be and give them four weeks' notice of that," Ms Stephenson said.
Tight security is also required for storage facilities with Ms Stephenson having to keep it under "lock and key" and keeping a record of everybody who visits the crop.
"Not that anyone would want to steal it, it's like stealing a bag of wheat," she said.
Supply not meeting demand
But supply for building material is not meeting demand according to Ms Stephenson with several houses in Victoria planned or under construction.
"I have people saying, 'Can I buy some of your hurd, and where can I get it from?'" she said.
She said transport costs from Hunter Valley made it a costly material.
Ideally she would like to see hemp processing hubs around the country, so that transport costs are minimised and so farmers can send their crop to a localised central point.
"So that it's then processed and the economies of scale are brought about by lots of farmers in the same kind of hub," Ms Stephenson said.
She said the closely planted fast growing crop, which could grow up to three metres tall in about 90 to 100 days does, not need much water, and also acted as a nitrogen fixer making an ideal crop for a multitude of purposes.
Ms Stephenson will open her house to the public as part of Sustainable House Day.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hemp Houses Lead To Call For Changes In Growing Industry To Boost Production
Author: Larissa Romensky
Contact: ABC News
Photo Credit: Larissa Romensky
Website: ABC News
