Observe one hemp crop via 4 very totally different components of Margaret River Hemp Co, and see why the plant makes extra sense as a price chain than as a single product.
Identical crop. Utterly totally different vacation spot.
One crop. 4 locations.
Most crops have a reasonably predictable vacation spot. Wheat turns into flour. Cotton turns into cloth. Timber turns into furnishings or constructing materials. Hemp refuses to remain in a single lane.
The identical crop can start in a paddock and ultimately discover its method into your breakfast, your wardrobe, your toilet and even the partitions of your house. For us at Margaret River Hemp Co, that versatility just isn’t an summary concept. It’s the cause our enterprise has grown throughout meals, clothes, skincare, processing and constructing.
BREAKFAST – FOLLOW THE SEED
For many individuals, hemp begins with the smallest a part of the plant: the seed. Hemp seed could be eaten as it’s, cold-pressed for oil, or processed into substances resembling protein and flour.
That’s the place our Simply Add Hemp philosophy comes from. A spoonful over breakfast, hemp protein in a smoothie, seeds scattered over toast, or hemp seed oil whisked right into a dressing. The purpose is to not reinvent each meal. It’s to make hemp simple to make use of in meals individuals already take pleasure in.
| HEMP CROP | SEED | CLEAN + PROCESS | PANTRY |
WARDROBE – FOLLOW THE FIBRE
Now comply with the stem.
Transfer away from the seed and hemp begins telling a very totally different story. Contained in the stem are lengthy bast fibres. These are the fibres that may be separated, cleaned, refined, spun and ultimately became yarn and cloth.
A completed hemp shirt has virtually nothing visually in frequent with a tall plant in a subject. That transformation is precisely what makes the availability chain fascinating. The crop has to maneuver via a number of specialised levels earlier than it reaches a wardrobe.
| STEM | BAST FIBRE | CLEAN + SPIN | FABRIC | CLOTHING |
The chance is larger than rising fibre
Australia can develop fibre hemp, however rising it’s only step one. Textile-quality materials wants constant processing, cleansing, spinning and manufacturing. Our personal work with fibre has taken us abroad to study from established processors and perceive what has to occur between uncooked Australian fibre and a completed garment.
That’s the reason we hold coming again to the identical concept: potential solely turns into an trade when there’s a pathway from crop to completed product.
BATHROOM – FOLLOW THE OIL
Again to the seed, however this time we press it.
The identical hemp seed that may go into breakfast can take one other path fully. Chilly-press it and also you get hemp seed oil. That oil has change into one of many basis substances within the skincare and body-care merchandise we make in Margaret River.
| HEMP SEED | COLD PRESS | HEMP SEED OIL | SKINCARE |
This is without doubt one of the finest examples of how totally different the hemp worth chain can look from the client finish. A bag of hemp protein and a jar of physique butter don’t seem to have a lot in frequent, however their tales can start with the identical seed.
Hemp seed oil can change into a part of soaps, moisturisers, physique merchandise, hair care and different formulations. The completed product might dwell within the toilet quite than the pantry, however the agricultural origin is identical.
One plant, a very totally different product
As an alternative of asking, “What’s hemp used for?”, the higher query is usually, “Which a part of the hemp plant are we speaking about?” The seed behaves in a different way from the fibre. The fibre behaves in a different way from the hurd. The oil creates one other set of potentialities once more.
Then there may be the woody core.
After the precious outer fibre is separated from the hemp stem, one other materials stays. The woody interior core is known as hurd. That is the place the story leaves the wardrobe and enters the constructing web site.
Hurd could be mixed with a lime-based binder and water to create hemp-lime, generally referred to as hempcrete. It’s typically used as non-structural wall infill and insulation round a structural body.
At Hemp Houses Australia, we’ve been constructing with hemp-lime in Western Australia for years. Meaning the identical sort of crop that may contribute to meals or clothes can in the end change into a part of the partitions surrounding a household.
| STEM | PROCESSING | HURD | LIME BINDER | HEMP-LIME WALL |
That is the place hemp turns into particularly tangible. You possibly can stand inside a hemp dwelling and actually be surrounded by agricultural materials that has moved from paddock, via processing, right into a long-lived constructing utility.
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The 4 HempCo worlds are literally one.
From the skin, Margaret River Hemp Co can generally appear like a number of companies residing below one roof. There are hemp meals. There may be skincare. There may be clothes. There may be Margaret River Hemp Processing. There may be Hemp Houses Australia.
We now have by no means actually seen them as disconnected. They’re totally different levels and functions of the identical concept: how a lot helpful worth can we create from one plant?
| PART OF THE PLANT | WHAT IT CAN BECOME | WHERE IT ENDS UP |
|---|---|---|
| Hemp seed | Seeds, oil, protein, flour | Breakfast |
| Hemp seed oil | Soaps, moisturisers and physique care | Rest room |
| Bast fibre | Yarn, cloth and clothes | Wardrobe |
| Hemp hurd | Hemp-lime and constructing supplies | Home |
The bit most individuals by no means see: processing
A crop in a subject doesn’t robotically change into a shirt, a bag of fresh hemp seeds or hurd appropriate for a constructing. Each vacation spot requires tools, data, high quality management, logistics and a buyer on the different finish.
That’s the reason processing issues a lot to us. The actual alternative for Australian hemp just isn’t merely rising extra hectares. It’s turning into higher at transferring the plant from crop, to usable materials, to completed product.
And ideally, little or no must be wasted
Premium fibre might transfer in the direction of textiles. Hurd can transfer into building or different industrial functions. Seed turns into meals or oil. Brief fibres and fines can have lower-value materials, horticultural or industrial makes use of. The objective is to not drive each fraction right into a premium product. It’s to search out the proper use for every half.
Breakfast. Wardrobe. Rest room. Home.
Identical crop. Utterly totally different vacation spot.
Maybe that’s hemp’s actual superpower. Not one headline profit, however usefulness throughout fully totally different components of on a regular basis life. That versatility is what fascinated us concerning the plant at first, and it’s nonetheless what drives a lot of what we do at present.
