Hemp rules changed after 20 years

Hemp New Zealand business manager Nigel Hosking shows Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour around the Ashburton Hemp facility. Anisha Satya

Hemp is not a drug – that was the message Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regulation David Seymour shared while announcing a reform of growing rules at the Hemp New Zealand Ashburton facility.

Industrial hemp will no longer require a licence to grow if the plants contain less than 1% of THC (the cannabis compound).

Seymour said the industry was bogged down with rules that “treat[ed] growing low-risk crops like high-risk drugs.

“Industrial hemp contains very low levels of THC and is grown for food, oil, fibre and health products.

“In a high-cost economy, regulation isn’t neutral – it’s a tax on growth.”

Hemp New Zealand business manager Nigel Hosking said local farmers now had more reason to consider hemp as a growing option – with the announcement, and also the relocation of hemp processor Rubsico, which will start operating out of its Ashburton facility early next year.

Health products and beer made with hemp. Anisha Satya

Farmer Andrew West felt Mid Canterbury farmers were well positioned to put the crop in their rotations.

“It’s a good decision, it’s going to help, but it’s only the start of some other decisions that have to happen.”

Jo Townshend represented the Aotearoa Hemp Alliance and Midland Seeds at the Ashburton announcement. 

She said new hemp farmers needed to understand how the plant grew and pollinated.

“The success of many of our more common crops, such as wheat and barely, rely on a lot of R and D, and breeding cultivars.

“Hemp is quite a prolific pollen producer. So if we have a fibre field next to a seed field, [all that work] is out the door.’

Implementation of the regulation reforms will be led by the Ministry of Health. A timeline has not yet been revealed.