An Update from the NZHIA Chair
Welcome to the December/January 2023 Public Newsletter. Happy Holidays and best wishes for the coming year to all of the industry and our iHemp community.
The growing season is well underway with some late plantings going in around the wet weather we had in December, but all should be right with some sunny days in the new year.
2023 is going to be a particularly big one for the iHemp Industry, our 3rd iHemp summit will be taking place in Christchurch 24th & 25th of August, we look forward to seeing your there, but numbers will be limited so save the date and keep an eye out when the tickets go on sale to the public in February.
 
The other big event happening this year will be the election. This is a great opportunity to canvas the political parties to see how they feel about the iHemp industry and how they are going to invest and support the industry to really make a difference in the future. Labour, National, ACT, Greens, Māori are the big ones with TOP, NZ First and others all having the potential to be members of parliament post election, so we have our work cut out for us.
 
Scaling the industry is a key focus this year, the feedback from the Mystery Creek field days, in November 2022 showed there was considerable farmer interest, with many potential growers looking at iHemp as an alternate land use in rotation with their current farming operations, whether they be dairy, sheep & beef or horticulture.
 
This supply-side interest is going to support the existing iHemp business to scale and expand the local markets and enter the new export market, where demand is growing at double-digit, compound annual growth rates.

The extent of this growth and the projected market size for iHemp food and fibre products are a reflection of the consumers' preference for sustainable, high-quality foods, with great nutritional profiles. And fibre products with key qualities and characteristics which end users and manufactures are seeking, to improve the quality and consumer uptake of their products, this is an exciting time as more businesses get turned on to iHemp as an ingredient or raw material for their production processes.
 
Matching this growing demand with the supply from quality farming sources is key to scaling the industry. To be successful, especially in export markets, we need to maintain the highest possible quality of the foods and fibre we produce. Our fibre industry needs to meet the specification of the end users.
 
Our hemp food producers, Hemp NZ, Midlands, Brothers Green, Hemp Connect, Hopefield Hemp and others must exceed best practices to produce the type of quality required to be successful in export markets. We have a great story, from the care taken by our farmers during harvest and drying of the seed through the production chain to avoid heat, light and air that are the enemies of hemp seed oil, our product can be world-class The industry is full of challenges, quality control, standardisation, development of new products, penetrating new and existing markets, continuity of supply and telling our story better are all crucial to realising the massive economic, environmental and social outcomes available from a sustainable iHemp industry.
 
We already have a great reputation for food and innovative production, combined with a great story gives us a very wide-ranging social licence to operate.
 
As an industry we must respect this and live up to the expectations of our customers and consumers, as we penetrate the market, moving from early adopters to mainstream.
 "Taking action” is the theme for the iHemp Summit, in Christchurch 24th & 25th August 2023, the tickets will be on sale to Members later this month and we look forward to offering early bird specials to the wider industry in February. The conference will be limited to 200 attendees, so if you are serious about the industry you will need to get in quickly and secure your spot.
All the best,
Richard Barge
NZHIA Chair