Hemp advocates hail the "stigmatised" crop as the billion-dollar saviour of Victoria's ailing timber industry, but politicians are concerned the industry could pave the way to legalising cannabis.
The cannabis variety can be processed into a range of building materials, many of which are heat or fire resistant.
Just six farmers are growing fewer than 200 hectares of hemp in Victoria, while Tasmania's $4.5 million industry grows around six times that amount.
That's a drop in the ocean when compared with the global industry, which is expected to grow from about $7 billion a year to more than $27 billion by 2027.
Victoria and Canada both passed legislation to allow industrial hemp cultivation and processing in 1998.
While Canada has become a world leader in production, Australia remains far behind.
Timber replacement
The Victorian government made the shock announcement on May 23 that native logging would end by January 1, almost seven years ahead of schedule.
Processors in Gippsland could replace timber with hemp, says Darren Christie, president of the non-profit industry organisation iHemp Victoria.
This would maintain employment and financial stability for logging communities while offering a solution to building supply shortages, he says.
"Industrial hemp is another chip and pulp industry, exactly the same as our timber industry," said Mr Christie, who also chairs the Australian Hemp Building Institute.
Industrial hemp requires fewer agricultural inputs – fertiliser, pesticides and water – compared with many other crops, according to AgriFutures Australia.
But the research body says fibre transportation is costly due to hemp's light weight and large volume.
This means the industry needs local growing and processing.
And with home building companies going to the wall as building costs rise, locally produced construction materials could fill that gap.
Gippsland is perfectly placed to become an industrial hemp hub, say industry leaders.
"We can grow industrial hemp on a biomass scale in 100 days. Five thousand hectares — there's $100 million into the Gippsland communities and farming."
The Victorian parliament on Wednesday agreed to an inquiry into opportunities to expand the hemp industry in Victoria.
While supporting the motion, brought by Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne, Liberal member Georgie Crozier said she had questions around the viability of the industry, as well as its potential outcomes.
"We go on to the real crux of I think where Legalise Cannabis are going to, and that is the cannabinoids and legalising cannabis," Ms Crozier said.
"I'm strongly supportive of medicinal cannabis, I don't support legalising cannabis."
Hemp and marijuana are both species of the cannabis plant.
Ms Payne says this can cause sticking points when it comes to state and federal regulation.
"Hemp could be a real opportunity for the timber industry to pivot into," she says.
"It can be used for a whole range of [things] from production of textiles through to bioplastics, construction and biofuel," Ms Payne says.
Building the hemp industry
Victoria's now-disbanded industrial hemp task force reported in 2020 that Tasmania's industry was worth $4.5 million.
The economic and environmental benefits are significant, say researchers.
"We know that there's a lot of interest in not only the opportunities for what hemp can create, but also ... the fact that hemp is an incredible carbon sink," Ms Payne says.
Matthew Box runs Pro Hemp on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, where he grows, processes and supplies hemp, and develops and builds hemp processing machinery.
He says the industry is on the verge of taking off in Victoria, but it needs support to scale up.
"There's so much demand for hemp, but it's always companies that want it in large volumes," Mr Box said.
Innovative producers are coming out of the woodwork from all over the state, he said.
Prefabricated building panels are being produced in central Victoria, bricks are being made in the west of the state, while hemp powder is being transformed into 3D printed houses in Victoria's south.
But just six growers are managing about 200 hectares of hemp plantation in Victoria — about one sixth of Tasmania's production.
Call for industry investment
Regenerative Hemp Victoria president Lyn Stephenson says the state could rival Canada to become a market leader.
"The growing conditions in Gippsland lend themselves really well to growing hemp," she says.
"Certainly, I think there's massive scope for replacement for paper pulp."
Industry leaders say draconian regulations and costly monitoring requirements must be overhauled.
Mr Christie is calling on the state government to support and invest in the industry.
"They've got to open their eyes and have a really deep, hard look – now – because otherwise we're 10 years behind."
