A Matamata farmer trying out legal hemp has left his first crop to rot in the field, saying the secrecy is not worth the effort.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous because he does not want his father to know about the trial crop, said he had gone back to
maize because it attracted less attention.
"I found the covert nature of hemp farming a nuisance. It looks a lot like marijuana. It was only a matter of time before people found out about it."
He said he ended up leaving the crop to rot in the field. "It wasn't worth my while sending it all the way to Nelson to have it processed. I decided it wasn't for me."
The Government last year issued 15 licences to grow industrial hemp, used for fabric and rope. It is the same plant species, cannabis sativa, as the drug crop, but the level of the narcotic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is less than 0.35 per cent of the plant's dry weight and between 10 and 20 times less than ordinary cannabis.
The Waikato crop was among the first legal crops of cannabis since cultivation was made illegal in 1933.
The field trial sites were kept secret by the Health Ministry, which said it was concerned that people would try to harvest the plants to sell as marijuana.
The Matamata farmer said he would consider growing hemp again when it became more widely acceptable. "It has great environmentally friendly properties."
- NZPA
