The states of Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania legalised industrial hemp in 1998.

Western Australia and New South Wales legalised hemp through their Industrial Hemp Acts in 2004 and in 2008 correspondingly, enabling licensees to cultivate, harvest and process industrial hemp on a commercial scale.

In Southern Australia, MPs passed the Industrial Hemp Act in April 2017. The proposed regulations enable the cultivation of industrial hemp crops and the establishment of a hemp processing industry.

In November 2017, changes were made to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Code to permit the sale of food products derived from hemp seed that do not contain cannabinoids apart from trace levels.

An industrial hemp licence is necessary to cultivate, harvest and/or process industrial hemp.

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Production

Tasmania produced 66% of Australia’s hemp seed and according to the Hemp Association of Tasmania, the number of growers has increased from 29 to 49 since last season. Tasmania’s hemp crop is valued at almost $5 million.

There were 21 commercial hemp growers in Queensland in 2018, with eight of them coming after the legalisation of hemp food.

According to HempGro, the recently formed WA hemp growers’ co-operative, active licensed growers in WA increased from 39 to 70 in 2018, and hectares planted grew from 77 to 193 compared with a year earlier.

There are currently 11 producers licensed to grow hemp in South Australia with the market predicted to be worth $3 million annually within five years as government data shows.

Hempseed

With the recent changes to the Food Standard certain hemp seed products are now permitted for human consumption. The following products may be imported without import permission under the PI Regulations:

• Products contain hulled hemp seeds, derived from hemps, and/or hemp seed oil provided that:
• They do not contain another drug
• They do not contain any part (or extracts) of the cannabis/hemp plant (excluding extracts made from the hemp seeds)
• The total cannabidiol content is 75 mg/kg or less, and
• The total tetrahydrocannabinol content is less 50 mg/kg or less.

The international food market for hempseed is estimated at $1 billion. It costs around $1,300 a hectare for farmers to grow it, and they are paid around $3 a kilogram.

CBD Market

In Australia CBD products fall under the Poisons standard as a schedule 4 prescription-only medicine, meaning only patients approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) can access them legally. All product, excluding fibre and seed, derived from cannabis are considered drugs and may only be used for medical or scientific purposes.

According to FreshLeaf Analytics, “The TGA is currently undertaking a safety review of CBD at lower doses, although there are only limited published studies. Based on the outcome of these studies, it is possible that relaxation of the scheduling status of low dose CBD (e.g. to over the counter) could be considered during 2020”.

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