Greenfern is celebrating a successful start to 2021 with an impressive first season in Taranaki.

“We currently have approximately 25 hectares planted across three different locations, two in Taranaki and one in Lake Hawea in the South Island,” said Managing Director Dan Casey. 

“Our first hemp season has been really good in Taranaki, and we are looking to harvest both Taranaki sites towards the end of February," says Dan.

Lake Hawea had a slow start with the lack of rain but has since taken off.

“Once harvested the seed/grain is processed and used in products such as MaTo, hemp meat substitutes and beer such as our Cannabeer series.

The hemp-based chicken substitute that has recently been on the menu at Tank Juice NZ is grown and processed on Greenfern sites.

"It’s fantastic to see the products that our plants are being turned into and the market we have developed," says Dan.

Greenfern is also in the middle of two hemp research trials. The trial sites are based in South Taranaki where Greenfern is cultivating Katani - a variety of hemp that grows faster, shorter and has a lot of seed. 

"These trials are exciting, we are testing the use of poultry manure and fermented seaweed and how each at different concentrations affect the plant growth speed, size and seed yield.

“If proven successful we can use the same area of planting but harvest more seed, ultimately a winning formula. We can do this while remaining true our values and doing it all with natural products," says Dan.

Both trials are multi-year trials. The results from these trials will help Greenfern continue to improve its hemp farming practises which will play a big role in the profitability of growing hemp for seed as they scale the hectarage planted year on year.

“We are looking forward to 2021 and what the year has to offer," says Dan.