Hemp Production in Aotearoa

Abstract Hemp is new to Aotearoa, the indigenous name of New Zealand (NZ). The NZ government approved the experimental cultivation of hemp in 2001. Eleven cultivars have been cultivated to date, ‘Anka’, ‘Carmen’, ‘Fasamo’, ‘Felina’, ‘Finola’, ‘Futura 77’, ‘Kompolti’, ‘Uniko B’, ‘USO 14’, ‘USO 31’, and ‘Zola’. Crops have been planted at 19 sites the past two seasons, in a wide range of latitudes, climates and soil types. NZ's fragile soil necessitates careful management of its fertility. Hemp fits into the paradigm of sustainable stewardship, organic soil fertilization, and responsible crop rotation. It can be rotated with existing fodder crops and vegetable crops. Hemp's well-known ability to suppress weeds makes its rotation with pasture an attractive way to clean soil banks of weed seeds. Hemp cultivated for seed produced maximal yields of 2800 kg ha−1; and fiber crops yielded stalk biomass (dry matter) as high as 13,900 kg ha−1. These yields are consistent with or greater than reports from the European literature. Several pests new to hemp were discovered in NZ, but none required pesticides. Birds caused problems in seed crops, requiring control with repellents and bird netting. Future prospects look promising for this new crop.