The Journey
I’m delighted to announce that we are celebrating 10 incredible years in the hemp industry. My pioneering husband Dave was first inspired to grow hemp after witnessing the decline in the waterways and seeing the pollution showing up on the land. After spending over 30 years working and living in the pristine environment of the mountains and rivers as a raft and mountain guide, he felt compelled to find a solution to the problem. Dave sold his tourism business and decided to find a way of cleaning up the environment. After researching the benefits of hemp he decided this was the way forward. Along with being an excellent crop for soil remediation, it also locks the carbons out of the atmosphere in hemp products. Dave planted his first crop in 2008 and that was the beginning of our incredible journey to where we are today.
When I met Dave, he shared his passion for hemp and the environment, and I was hooked. I have always had a keen interest in health and nutrition, so for me this was an opportunity to get involved with something that I am very passionate about.
My son Harley joined us on our mission to spread the word, creating the first product labels and brochures to take to local markets. With his technical skills and eye for design, Harley created the HempFarm aesthetic and websites, growing the HempFarm brand. Dave and I hit the markets every weekend and expos to spread the word about the incredible health benefits of hemp and had a blast doing it. We brought in organic hemp seed oil from Canada to meet demand while continuing to plant crops.
HempFarm has been growing hemp crops since those early days, developing harvesting and processing methods. We have learned many hard lessons along the way, in particular the incredible strength of the fibre and how challenging harvesting it can be. We have gained vital knowledge which has proved invaluable.
From here to the future
For the 2019 season, HempFarm has 500ha in the ground across 20 paddocks in five regions, both North and South Island.
We are settling into our dedicated hemp food facility in Tauranga. There we can process our home-grown crops into hemp seed oil, protein powder, de-hulled seed, hemp milk and more.
Our retail shop, MyHempFarm now has more than 5300 registered members, and over 700 people have shared their positive experiences as a review. This is a testament to how effective our hemp products are! More products are ready to launch, so stay tuned.
HempFarm continues to work with universities and businesses, and while building partnerships. We are very pleased to have signed a strategic partnership with the iconic Christchurch brand, NZ Yarn. A hemp fiber line will be installed to produce hemp yarn and hemp/wool blends, which will be used in many applications including carpets.
Thank you so much for supporting HempFarm. Here’s to another 10 years!