Hemp farmers must have a licence form the Ministry of Health. Two licences are available General licence $511.11 and a Research and Breeding licence for an additional $153.33 including GST.
If you are considering growing you should go the to Ministry of Health website – Key word industrial hemp
Your next step will be to source seeds, the NZHIA can put you in touch with seed sources www.nzhia.com
Growing economics, with the revenue streams form all the parts of the plant, there are significant returns for the farmer. It is early days and the industry is only just starting to develop and create a demand, but in time good gross profits will be available to farmers and value added opportunities for regional New Zealand will create business and employment outcomes.
Growing for phytoremdiation, hemp can be grown in polluted soils and has shown to be effective at lifting heavy metals form the soil, cleaning the land for future productive use. The long tap root and extensive root system breaks up and aerates compacted soils as it searches for the water table penetrating up to a meter deep.
