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Getting hemp recognised nationally as a valuable crop

Lisa

 

By Winton Evers | Managing Director | Eco Profit Management Pty Ltd

Introduction

Eco Profit has been developing the Eco Profit Hemp Platform, a live lifecycle carbon removals/emissions tracking tool throughout the hemp value chain. Please go to the link in the Hemp Building Directory for some background on the project. It has three stages:

  1. Stage one: the creation of a marketplace for hemp to join buyers, sellers and all stakeholders in the industry whilst introducing product specifications and forward contracting throughout the value chain (providing market certainty).
  2. Stage two is the creation of the provenance tool that will include GS1 barcoding and will track all hemp biomass from paddock to end product. This will mean the collection of the appropriate data right across the value chain.
  3. Stage three is the creation of carbon offsets.

In Australia, that will mean getting approval from The ACCU Scheme to create official carbon offsets. However, to be able to get to this stage will require crops generally being recognised as being able to be used for storing carbon permanently (such as in buildings) and the hemp crop being recognised in Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI). On the first point, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which dictates the rules for national greenhouse gas emissions calculation is in the process of approving a new sub-category called Harvested Non-wood Biomass Products that will be a game changer.

To the second point, the hemp industry will need to demonstrate that it will shortly be a material crop i.e. permanent carbon removals of greater than 0.5% of Australia’s national emissions and also, to be able to provide extensive data that will allow the Clean Energy Regulator to be able to facilitate its inclusion in the NGGI. With the goal of achieving that recognition I have prepared a suggested simplified roadmap to get there as follows:

Phase 1 – Measurement & calibration (12–24 months)

Conduct multi-state field trials on an ongoing basis to quantify hemp’s key crop attributes: dry matter by component, carbon content, residue returns, and SOC baselines underpinned by quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocols and RothC validation.
Please see Appendix A below with field trial details.

Phase 2 – National data pipeline

Formalise area, yield, and management reporting through ABARES/ABS or interim industry reporting aligned with their standards. Each state regulator would need to share data on licensed hemp plantings and harvests, and the Hemp Platform can capture this directly from the paddock to ensure transparency and traceability.
Practically: create standard forms/application programming interfaces (APIs) for growers, processors, product manufacturers and product end use, QA/QC rules, aggregate by LGA/state, publish annual stats, get state regulators to share licensed planting/harvest data and work with ABARES/ABS towards inclusion in official ag statistics.

Phase 3 – Integration with FullCAM

Once crop data is validated, collaborate with DCCEEW to:

  • Add hemp to the CAMAg crop list,
  • Define management splits (residue retention, tillage, irrigation), and
  •  Integrate hemp into annual cropland modelling.

This would enable Australia’s greenhouse gas inventory to reflect both emissions and removals associated with hemp cultivation and management.

Phase 4 – Product durability & standards (future-proofing)

Commission/collect studies on the durability and half-life of hempcrete and hemp composites, establishing credible parameters for the forthcoming HNBP framework. Work includes (such as the work Klara has been doing):

  • Developing a Standards Australia Technical Specification for hemp-lime walling.
  •  Supporting National Construction Code (NCC) compliance through accredited testing and certification.

Using the Hemp Platform to trace carbon removals across the value chain from crop to finished product.

Phase 5 – ACCUs (future opportunity)

Once the HNBP category is formalised, pursue an ACCU method for carbon storage in durable hemp products. In the meantime, build the evidence base: measure service-life, end-of-life outcomes, SOC change, and management practices. This ensures the industry is method-ready when the opportunity opens. This includes ensuring the data is captured from soil sequestration ACCU projects which involve associated hemp planting.

APPENDIX A
1. Set up site-specific model inputs

  • Climate: monthly rain & temperature and potential evapotranspiration (PET).
  • Soils: clay %, bulk density, initial soil organic carbon (SOC) by depth, inert organic matter (IOM) estimate.
  • Management: tillage, irrigation, cover crops.
  • Carbon inputs: measured residue & root carbon, stubble height/returns.

2. Partition plant material into pools

  • Map lab data e.g. lignin/ acid detergent fibre (ADF)/ acid detergent lignin (ADL), carbon-to-nitrogen ratio( C:N) to decomposable plant material/ resistant plant material (DPM/RPM) fractions required by RothC (fast vs resistant decomposable pools).

3. Calibrate starting state

  • Use the baseline SOC e.g. 0–30 cm, equivalent soil mass) to initialise model pools including IOM for each site/plot.

4. Run forward with measured inputs

  • Drive RothC with observed monthly inputs and management for the trial period (12–24+ months). This will mean accessing the RothC program and understanding specific data inputs into the program.

5.Compare model vs measurements

  • Check predicted vs measured SOC stocks/stock-change (by depth, usually 0–10 & 10–30 cm).
  • Stats: root mean square error/ mean absolute error (RMSE/MAE), bias (mean error), Coefficient of Determination(R²)/Nash–Sutcliffe; confidence intervals via Monte Carlo on uncertain inputs.

6. Sensitivity & uncertainty

  • Vary key parameters (DPM/RPM, residue C, clay %, IOM) to show robustness and quantify uncertainty ranges.

7. Cross-site validation

  • Demonstrate performance across multiple states/soils/rotations (not just one site) to show generalisability.

8. QA/QC evidence

  • Field/lab standard operating procedures (SOPs), duplicates/blanks, bulk density & SOC lab checks, outlier rules, equivalent soil mass (ESM) corrections, versioned model configs.