Local producers flocked to the farm of Michael and Felicia Chalmers this week to check out a towering three-and-a-half-metre-tall crop of hemp.
“I became aware that Murray Industrial Hemp (MIH), through Western Murray Land Improvement Group, was looking for farmers to have a go at growing some hemp as a trial,” said Michael Chalmers when questioned “Why hemp?”
An MIH information night attended by the Chalmers showcased the potential of creating sustainable building products that could be processed locally in Barham.
“Felicia and I stuck our hand up to have a crack at growing hemp, to see whether agronomically, we could make it work, and also whether it will fit in and complement the other crops that we grow here on the farm.”
The 50-hectare crop was grown under a lateral irrigator using a target rate of 40kg/ha of seed and an average of 350kg/ha of urea. Water use has been 6.5megs/ha with a yield target of 10t/ha.
“We’ve probably learned a lot in the process. We got told it doesn’t like wet feet, and we found that out after waterlogging a portion of the crop, but on the whole, it’s been a rewarding experience.”
Michael sees a long road ahead before hemp is a mainstream building product, but its sustainability and soil improvement qualities have him keen to continue exploring the crop’s capabilities.
The day included a demonstration of a modified Class forage harvester that converted the tough, towering plants into short enough lengths for processing. The sound of the forage harvester reminded me of attempting to continue harvesting rice after the sun had gone down. Smooth threshing turns to “things that go bump in the night” as the stalks toughen up.
The windrows will be now left for about 10 days, then a process called retting will aid in drying and separating the outer fibre from the herd. Then, when the moisture drops to 10-12 per cent, the hemp is pressed into square bales.
Not all who attended were farmers. Notable filmmaker DJ Nicke had been in Australia looking at regenerative agriculture and has a colourful history when it comes to hemp.
“My wife and I started a nonprofit called thecannapedia.org back in 2015, 16, and then in 2017 we gave up our lives and everything in Germany at the time, and moved to the US.” said DJ
“We joined the hemp road trip, which was a nationwide tour that went around talking to legislators and farmers and everyone all around the country and we made a documentary about that.”
While some US states at the time had provisions to grow hemp, federal legislation conflicted, leaving producers in the crosshairs of federal enforcement agencies.
“When we released the film we got banned from every film festival, so we had to set up our own grassroots screening tour, where we just contacted activists in each location around the country that we’ve been to and told them to organise their own screening,” said DJ
“We basically helped push through the 2018 US Farm Bill, which legalised hemp federally for farmers there.”
What DJ didn’t expect was the fallout. Powerful entities de-banked DJ and his company and his wife had her visa cancelled.
“I got my bank accounts frozen, my wife’s visa cancelled, and we basically had to leave the country after that.”
“They don’t even tell you why, just your bank account gets frozen. They say we’re no longer willing to do business with you, so if you’re lucky, you get your funds back. We’ve had everything from PayPal to our banks, even my US business, we cannot get a Business Bank account in the US, so we had to get an overseas bank.”
But the hits kept coming for pushing the big oil alternative.
“We’ve been de-platformed from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even Reddit. We got banned from Reddit just for talking about growing without chemicals and how you can do that.”
To find out more about Murray Industrial Hemp head to murrayindustrialhemp.com.au.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 20 February 2025.
