included entertainment by MC Greg Ward,
Carmelle Riley (Whenua Kura) emphasized
whose performance throughout the conference the need for skills training for this new crop
was outstanding.
industry.
And so to the final day...
Maggie Davidson (University of Western
Sydney) gave a heartfelt plea for considering
Food from Hemp was introduced by a video
conference call with John Roulac of USA Hemp the Health & Safety aspects of producing
hemp. Surprisingly (to me) this did not only
food company Nutiva. John’s presentation
emphasis the importance
explored the wide range of
of respect for the heavy
hemp seed food products
The
official
dinner
machinery necessary to
that were possible.
that
evening
included
produce the crop, but
The CEO of Cookie Time,
also the danger from
entertainment by MC Greg
Michael Mayell, gave a
“dust particles” produced
Ward, whose performance
presentation on marketing
during the harvesting
hemp food, which started
throughout the conference
and processing process.
off with a highly engaging
was outstanding.
Physical injuries can be
burst of dance!
devastating, but so can
After a short tea break it
lung damage.
was then my responsibility
Then it was time for Bryan Wilson (MPI) and
to introduce the huge gaps in our knowledge
Stewart Jessamine (MOH) to clarify the legal
on how to grow hemp for fibre, food and
(regulatory) aspects required for growing
medicine. I emphasized that our agronomic
hemp, and also the use of the seed for human
knowledge of hemp is extremely poor, and
that tremendous improvements in productivity food. This was followed by a substantial
questions and answer session, in which a
could be anticipated in the future.
number of contentious areas were clarified.
For instance, 60 years ago the best greenhouse There was considerable support from
tomato growers produced a crop of only 200t/
delegates for the transfer of the regulator
ha/year, yet now that figure is 800t/ha/year.
requirements for growing hemp to be
With improved genetics, greenhouses, grower
transferred from MOH to MPI.
knowledge and other research for hemp, one
might anticipate current yields to double in the After lunch on the final day Panapa Ehau and
Manu Caddie (Hikurangi Group) presented
next 50 years.
their views on medicinal cannabis production.
Photo: Cam Sims Plant Culture Ltd
8
Pictured from left: Werner Schulze, Mathew Johnson, Craig Johnson, Duncan Matthews of
HempConnect based in Whanganui