Liina Flynn
GROWING INDUSTRY: A harvest of hemp crops at Ashfield.
Inset: Klara Marosszeky.
NEXT spring, rather than planting the usual crops, why not plant industrial hemp? According to Northern Rivers Hemp, there’s a massive demand nationally and internationally for industrial hemp and a shortage of supply.
Klara Marosszeky from The Australian Hemp Masonry Company said local farmers thinking about a change can get much bigger returns from growing industrial hemp than they can from other crops.
“Farmers can get $500 per tonne for fibre and you can get at least 10 tonnes from one hectare,” Klara said. “In this region, we have trialled 18 industrial hemp cultivar varieties over the last eight years on every soil type – it will grow nearly anywhere except in water-logged places. It’s a very versatile and hardy plant and will grow with half the water needed to grow lucerne.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.echonews.com.au/story/2012/06/21/a-green-growing-industry/