Gross Margins of £550/ha to Boost UK Hemp Production

[Ganjarden]

Last year, Hemcore’s new £3.6 million industrial processing facility near Halesworth, Suffolk, handled crop from just under 1,500ha (3,700 acres) and an average crop should produce about 7.5 tonnes/ha. The target after four years is an annual throughput of 50,000 tonnes.

“We cannot satisfy the market at the present time,” said managing director Mike Duckett.

New growers are being sought, mainly within East Anglia, but also Kent, East Midlands and Berkshire/Wiltshire/Sussex. The company said it also has specific niches in the South West, where the crop is being grown for seed for crushing, as well as straw.

The company is offering fixed price contracts for spring sowing. Straw for March delivery, for example, would be around £142.50/tonne and seed for the same date, £478/tonne.

Mr Duckett said demand for the plant’s two constituent parts – the fibre and the woody core or shiv – is growing rapidly.

The firm also works with Braham & Murray which produces the ‘Good Oil’ brand from cold-pressed seed.

Spring sown, the crop is normally cut in mid- to late-August with big square baling two to three weeks later.

It is claimed hemp can usefully fit into a number of rotational situations with a late drilling window and good weed control.

Seed must be purchased from Hemcore and costs £3.30/kg (£3.40 for varieties for dual hemp) and the recommended sowing rate is 37kg/ha.

Buy-back prices from this year’s harvest range from £125 at harvest to £150 for crop stored until the following August.

Contract prices for seed from ‘dual’ crops, range from £460 to £493/tonne.

Dual hemp provides considerable opportunity for increased margins, the company points out, but will delay harvesting until September and needs closer management. Hemp seed will come off the combine at 16-18 per cent moisture and needs to be dried to 8 per cent moisture within six hours.

Example gross margin figures for a dual crop – £812/ha before haulage – are based on a yield of six tonnes of straw and 1.2 tonnes of grain per ha. But according to Hemcore, yields of up to seven tonnes of straw and 1.7 tonnes of grain have been achieved, resulting in a gross margin of well over £1,000/ha (£404/acre).

The plants used in ‘industrial’ hemp are varieties of Cannabis sativa with a THC level (tetra hydro cannabinnol) of 0.2 per cent or less. THC in a marijuana plant would be nearer 10-15 per cent.


News Hawk- Ganjarden http://www.420Magazine.com
Source: Farmers Guardian
Contact: Farmers Guardian
Copyright: 2009 UBM Information Ltd
Website: Gross margins of £550/ha to boost UK hemp production