Waltanna Farms leads the charge in hemp seed industry

AS AUSTRALIA’S industrial hemp industry catches up with the world, a Hamilton grower is on the front foot with his second bumper harvest, writes CAMILLE SMITH.

Forest run: Mike Nagorcka in his industrial hemp crop at Hamilton a few days before harvest in January. Pictures: Dannika Bonser

HEMP seeds are the magic beans of the cropping world.

Sowing isn’t as simple as throwing seeds over a shoulder, but they sprout nearly overnight, grow to impressive heights and open golden markets for growers.

Hamilton farmer Mike Nagorcka just finished harvesting his second hemp crop for seed. He says the global hunger for industrial hemp — which is low-THC cannabis that is cultivated for its seed and fibre — seems insatiable.

“At the moment there is an enormous backlog of people wanting Australian hemp,” he says. “Demand outstrips supply hands down.”

Mike runs Waltanna Farms, growing crops on 3000 hectares with his wife, Bronnie, and semi-retired father, James. About 3/4 of the operation is certified organic and the family’s main crop is flax, which is processed on farm into oil, meal and flour. Mike also grows oats and wheat.

Mike Nagorcka, of Waltanna Farms at Hamilton, grows industry hemp for seed. Picture: Dannika Bonser

His interest in hemp started about two years ago, when growers from Queensland asked him to process their harvested seed.

“They said they would like protein powder and oil — just the same deal again,” Mike says, explaining the products are quite similar to the flax range they produce.

“They flew down and we had about six or seven different products. They couldn’t believe some of the innovations we came up with.”

Meal, kibble, flour and flavoured oils were some of Mike’s initial hemp ideas. Excited by the possibilities, Mike decided to grow it himself, starting with variable rate and row spacing trials of six varieties.

“Out of the data we gathered, we discovered the key to success in hemp is the variety selection for the area to be grown,” he says. “But it wasn’t just the variety that mattered. It was all to do with the daylight, the temperature and the day length.”

Hemp seeds form on the top of the leafy stalk. Picture: Dannika Bonser

The French-bred ferimon variety and an unnamed Canadian variety were best suited to Hamilton’s climate. Seeds went into deeply cultivated and well fertilised soil on October 13 last year, with sprouts breaking the surface three days later.

“I have never seen a crop grow so fast,” Mike says. “In the space of a month it was a foot high.”

The crop takes 100 days from sowing to harvest and seed is processed on farm into oils, flours and hemp-flax blended products, sold directly to consumers, through supermarkets and wholesale.

“Value-adding is a key thing for success,” Mike says. “If you couple that with innovation, you will have a lot of people talking to you for your products.”

Mike walks through his hemp crop, which he describes as a “miniature forest”. The crop was plated in October and harvested at the end of January. Picture: Dannika Bonser

19

Fifth generation cropper Mike Nagorcka, 49, and his father, James, 78, converted much of their Hamilton land to certified organic production 19 years ago when it was seen as a “tree-huggin-type farming”. Returns have been worth it — with organic crops fetching up to a 50 per cent premium.

1500

Waltanna Farms expects to process at least 1500 tonnes of hemp this year from its own harvest and other growers.

30

This year, Waltanna Farms will grow about 30 per cent of the total hemp crop that will go through their on-farm processing facility. Mike has contracted eight growers in southwest Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Riverina near Echuca to supply hemp.

Mike Nagorcka holds hemp seeds. Picture: Dannika Bonser

800

Mike grows the ferimon variety, which can produce up to 800kg of seed per hectare. Seed is about 30-32 per cent oil, with 1000kg of seed pressing up to 330 litres of oil.

250

Ferimon hemp reaches a height of 200-250cm at full maturity — “Like a miniature forest, just gorgeous,” Mike says. Fibre varieties grow taller — up to three metres — but for seed production, a shorter height is desirable.

12-14

Hemp should be sowed when daylight hours are increasing and soil temperature is no less than 12-14C.

Mike Nagorcka in his fermion hemp seed crop. Picture: Dannika Bonser

4

Within just four hours of harvest, the crop must be dried to about 10 per cent moisture otherwise mould can develop. Hemp is usually harvested at 12-15 per cent moisture.

0.12

Cannabis varieties with less than 0.35 per cent THC are considered industrial hemp. THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects. The Nagorcka family grows the fermion variety, which has less than 0.12 per cent THC.

120

This year’s bumper hemp crop received about 120mm of rain during the growing period, from October through January.

12/11/2017

In Victoria, it has been legal to sell and use hulled hemp seeds as a food and ingredient since changes to the Food Standards Code came into effect on November 12, 2017. Growers and processors in Victoria must have a licence to cultivate or process the crop.

Waltanna Farms hemp products. Picture: Dannika Bonser

17.95

Waltanna Farms’ premium hemp oil sells in 250ml bottles, for $17.95, and 500ml bottles, for $27.50.

44

Mike has 44 hemp products registered for release including flour, meal, moulin, protein powder, oil, flavoured oils and dressing. He also sells blended hemp-flax products including flour mixes and oils. The Waltanna Farms flax-hemp manuka honey oil is a bestseller.

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