Hi everyone - first post here I run an environmental charity that helps companies to reduce carbon emissions and we promote local food and sustainability. For sustainability we promote Industrial Hemp as a profitable and environmentally sound break crop which is becoming a mainstream raw material for environmentally important low carbon products such as roof insulation and low carbon breeze blocks [when mixed with tradical lime] .................. Hemp makes a very useful break crop - It takes 4 - 4.5 months from seed to harvest and you can make at least £550 per hectare depending on how far away you are from the processors.................. So why aren't more farmers growing it?........... If you have a minimum of 40 Hectares and are growing fodder maize or wheat Hemp may especially suit you. We deal with the largest processor in the country Hemcore - who are farming experts and will assist any farmer with the agronomy, seed and final harvest logistics. We're looking for farmers who want both a profitable and sustainable option - if you're interested in growing Hemp or want to know more about the agronomy then please get in touch with me Richard and i'll get back to you. - rich@thec-changetrust.org .........notes...... The home office license if now free, only restrictions are cannot be grown next to a school or where a public footpath directly crosses the field.

More info on hemp (including prices and haulage costs) in this recent article for anyone who's interested....

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/01/24/109076/better-processes-dispel-uncertainties-of-hemp.html

Is that £550/ha profit?

Like the idea it cant be grown next to footpath or school - shuld grow it next to a young offenders institute and watch them drool.

Hi there - yes at least £529 profit after logistics if you are within 100 miles, and yes the seeds and inputs are taken into account - obviously the further away you are from suffolk the higher the cost of logistics - still it is a good crop to grow - now with a new processing factory in Suffolk the hemp doesn't need to be 'retted' for 6 weeks anymore making it much easier to grow, bail and transport to the factory. I have the agronomy folders and all the information you'd need to begin - Hemcore will consult and assist you in the first year to ensure the optimum crop.. please contact me Richard : rich@thec-changetrust.org for further info.

hi richard, this looks interesting. I would like to know more about the process and what it takes to start crops of hemp? I have 2 hectors of land myself, and would like to test this out. I would have potential to cultivate on further land, but would like to begin on the land that surrounds me first. I am interested in the diversification of uses of hemp and wondered whether you had further details on these. I would like to know what the cost implications would be to test something like this on land that has been left fallow for five years, and previously was used for cultivating potatoes. Looking forward to hearing from you. malcolm

Malc Hemcore went bust and was bought out of administration and that's all I know. Hemp growing, I have done it, best not to try it, find something else, anything else.

No messing about when you respond Hhs. I like your style, but you could have told him to do a bit of research on the crop's likes and dislikes. It is, or was a year ago, being pushed as an alternative land use by some of those who would have us destroy our ruminants. I am surprised you could get it to grow at all in your part of the world.

According to the link to the old FW article the plant can handle 7t/hr  and the farmer interviewed said he had 6.4t/ha. I have seen higher figures quoted so there is capacity for say, 1ha of crop per hour. 24x365=8760 so not a lot of hectares need to be sown before the plant reaches capacity.

i grew some hemp 5 yrs ago. did about .8 t /ha. dried it, delivered it, but springdale never paid for it.

they also sold me bad  seed for that mustard stuff, cant remember the name of it. it was only 70 % germ and 84% alternaria., result, crop failure.

then the rep vapourized, and now they are burst, surprise surprise

Hemp is also a very good fish food and is easy to turn Hemp into fish pellets. I use hemp seeds, oil and the hemp to make fish pellets. I also sale the pellet machine that can also make animal feed pellets.

Does anyone know the current situation regarding the marketing of hemp? It is still being pushed by those who would have us stop eating meat, and I like to be fully informed when discussing such things with them.

For what it's worth here are my experiences of Hemp growing here in Canada having grown 160 acres this year for seed.

Here, you have to have a licence from some nice French lady in Quebec from some govt. quango along with police quecks before you can grow, sell and store hemp.

Seed is expensive and no sprays are available so you need a clean seedbed and good establishment, so once started this crop is a fantastic competitor, but does not like wet feet.

Combining can be a problem as it raps arround any shaft it can and so will destroy bearings or go on fire, and if very dry the dust can gather and also burn. So preparation of combine is a must, cover all exposed shafts.

4 growers in this area all had completely differing problems, feeder house chain feeds, rapping arround thrashers, and destroying wobble boxes.

I just cut the seed heads off with the header as high as it would go and got the seed into air bins as soon as possible. It doesn't ripen evenly so shelling will happen and some green will need attention.

We then swathed the straw (swather now needs repair) and round baled.

Real problems... marketing, the buyers that contracted to you at planting are bust by harvest, no market for the straw as the plant that was being built doesn't exist and the stuble is just a bed of twine that will be a b... to zerotill.

Will I grow it again? Doubt it unless we go through another period of poor crop prices for other grains and oilseeds, but a 1000lbs/acre of seed here in Canada is achievable at $80/lb and nothing can match that on my farm.

Thanks Caveo, Not the UK, but your experience seems to be the same as most other folks I have hear of. Is there still a buyer in the UK?

Sorry to keep pushing this thread, but it concerns me how much the crop is also being pushed as a replacement for livestock.

Assuming the original poster's profit figures are still valid, how does this compare with "average" yield and input costs for cereals at expected 2011 prices?

Assuming the original poster's profit figures are still valid, how does this compare with "average" yield and input costs for cereals at expected 2011 prices?

Still probably the best GM of any crop here in Canada and due to shortage prices have risen over 50%. Buuut ... remember its not an easy crop, from dealing with regulations, to the day it leaves your yard, it's a real slog. Even worse if you can't get paid, my hemp has been gone 40 days, and not even an weigh ticket to show for it. Caveo (beware)!

Thanks Caveo. I am on too small a scale now to consider growing it, but I am concerned about proposals to change Britain's agricultural land for the worse - one of these fine days I intend to return and would like to think I can still eat British food.

 Hi

I was looking to buy raw hemp seeds from UK and cant find much. I am raw foodist ( and this is a growing movement the world over) and looking to find UK farms that do raw seeds. When historically  we have grown this seeds for centuries it is sad that the industry has been desicrated/ let go to ruin. If there are any farms producing hemp or chia I would advertised them on all the raw food sites.

Is the LEADER funding able to help farmers?? anywhere in UK??

 

j.Shergold

 i would like as much information on hemp production and prossesing,

 

 many thanks 

   Jonny

 Hi Johnny

 

This is the only info. I have found that there is a successfull Hemp Farm in Devon.

From the Guardian newspaper

''One day two years ago Henry Braham found himself sat in the back of a car with Stephen Fry. As Fry's director of photography, the pair were in the middle of shooting the glittering costume drama Bright Young Things but, for a moment, Henry had rather different matters on his mind. He was on his mobile phone urgently discussing the price of hemp seed.

Braham and his wife Glynis Murray - who runs her own production company and has worked on award-winning commercials with Ridley Scott, David Bailey and Stephen Frears - lead double lives. During the week they're based in Notting Hill and are respected figures in the British film industry. On Friday evenings they climb into their green Land Rover, along with retired sheepdog, Bryn, and head for the village of Tawstock in north Devon.''

 and..

''Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has a bottle of Good Oil next to his cooker and uses it more than his traditional olive oil''...

 

Apparently it can be done but they had a few problems in the beggining.

 

The farmer who I shoot for grew it, one and only time. All the teenagers in Doncaster were in the field picking it thinking they could get high. Even the police made a visit.