Written by Connie Minos | August 2025
EO, iHemp NSW | Director, Ashford Hemp Industries
The picture (left) may resonate with many of our readers who have experienced drought and hardship on the land. In 2020, Lonnie and I went to the aid of a farmer friend who needed cattle put down due to ongoing drought. It was a traumatic time. On one of our heart wrenching visits two of the cows unable to stand showed signs of being close to calving. After euthanising the cows Lonnie quickly proceeded to remove the unborn calves. One of the two calves born on the side of a dry dam next to her deceased mother, survived. With low expectations after such a difficult welcome to life we took the calf home. It wasn’t smooth sailing but after 8 months we ended up relocating the calf (Marmalade) to my brothers’ cattle farm near Yetman as her size and zest for life were becoming a bit much for me to manage as her surrogate mother. My daughter Olivia and I just visited my brother and we checked on Marmalade and her third calf, both in pristine condition.
Olivia is 19 now. She was 15 when Marmalade was born. She was two when Lonnie and I first entered the hemp industry in 2008. Seventeen years ago.
Marmalade is a reminder to me that even in the toughest of situations good things do happen, and it is worth persevering. This has certainly been our experience in the Australian hemp industry.
Disappointingly Lonnie and I were unable to attend the Hemp Connect Forum in June. It’s always a wonderful opportunity to engage with others passionate about hemp, whether we’ve known them for years or we become newly acquainted. Thankfully we were able to watch the presentations online and I encourage others who were unable to attend the conference to review them. For those who aren’t familiar with our business, our hemp processor is located in northwest NSW, close to the QLD border.
The ingenious, beautiful, award-winning design of the University of Tasmanian Forestry and Timberyards redevelopment is inspirational to all, and we feel a strong sense of pride in knowing the hurd produced for that build came from a hemp processing machine we built and supplied to X-Hemp.
The beautiful images and positive comments received from builders and homeowners after supplying over fifty homes and buildings throughout NSW and beyond encourage our continued perseverance in supplying the hemp building industry. The regular and diverse range of alternative product options for bast, fines and hurd, who we send samples, give us hope for the future of the wider hemp industry.
A small number of business owners within NSW and Australia continue to promote products from overseas while declaring their interest in promoting the Australian hemp industry. Frustration from this fact is counteracted by the increasing engagement and action taken by the private sector and the government in the Australian Hemp Industry.
As a member of iHemp NSW and the Australian Hemp Fibre Processing group, and as a small business in NSW, we have every intention of being in this industry for years to come.