The Hemp Plant

 

Industrial hemp is not a new crop to England. In fact, Britain’s greatness was due partly to the thriving hemp industry during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Hemp was so valuable during the reigns of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I that it was illegal not to grow hemp, with people even paying their taxes with it.

It is an annual, herbaceous plant, which grows and adapts globally to most climates, soil types, and altitudes. The plant pre-dates most crops and evidence points to it being used by humans for more than 12,000 years.

Key Facts

 

Ends Land Use Conflict

A single industrial hemp plant, through its multiple end uses can concurrently be processed into food and other products. This negates any food security concerns.

Aids Soil Health

Soil health is improved with its deep taproot that breaks up soil compaction, aerates and aids in nutrient absorption and uptake by plants.

Land Remediation

Hemp can grow in devastated areas. It will remediate soils contaminated by heavy metal pollution, removing contaminants, even nuclear radiation.

Unit Economics

Unlike other energy crops that require a multi-year commitment to see a return on investment, hemp is profitable to farmers from year one.

From Farm to Customer

Industrial hemp requires water and some nutrients but no pesticides. It is planted in May and harvested in August. And while most crops are grown for food or fuels (single or dual purpose), hemp can concurrently produce food and myriad other products. 

The journey begins in spring with our farming partners putting seeds in the ground. Three to four months later that seed germinates and grows an impressive three metres in height, in dense rows with approximately 100,000 plants per acre.

The next stage is the harvest of this raw material. For every 1 ton of hemp we harvest, 1.6 tonnes of CO2 has been sequestered for it to have reached the size it does. Uniquely, the roots of the hemp plant go deeper than that of most other crops, creating a powerful vacuum within the stalk to pull in nutrients and carbon from the soil and atmosphere to form the necessary building blocks to justify its growth cycle.

Once the material reaches the facility, the seeds from the top of the plant will be pressed to release their oils for refinement into biofuels, while the remainder of the seed hull is milled and processed to isolate the proteins and optimise them for the food markets, both human and animal.

The stalk (which is harvested after the seeds) can be fed into a decorticator which separates it into different constituents from the outer bast fibre to the inner woody core, also known as the shiv or hurd. The bast fibre can be used for a non-woven insulation bat while the hurd will be mixed with lime and other aggregates to form a carbon negative alternative to concrete that can be deployed into building structures. 

 
 

Our Use of the Hemp Plant

  • We harvest the hemp seeds from the top of the plant and cold press them to separate the oils from the meal which can then be processed into our hemp feed.

  • After harvesting the stalk of the plant we further process it in readiness to be used in hempcrete and biomass pellets.

  • There are many other uses under development. These include bioplastics, transport fuels and health supplements.