Meet some of our farmers who help make it all happen.
Katherine & Barry
Venus Hemp, Totnes, Devon
We have been growing hemp for a few years now down in beautiful Devon. Hemp is part of our heritage – as people are beginning to rediscover – and there has been a lot of interest in our products, which is heart-warming. We believe this plant is one of the keys to our future as it can be grown with no harmful chemicals; it helps restore the soil in several ways, and it has a multitude of uses, all eco-friendly. So far, we have concentrated on the extraordinary nutrition hemp offers with its seeds, but hope to also move onto processing the stalks for fibre and shiv. This is still very much a fledgling industry in the UK and we would like to see it develop in a spirit of co-operation and community – in line with what this miracle plant offers us.
dan harrold
Barwick Hall Farm
We are a proudly British farm based in North Norfolk aiming to play our part in the nation’s farming industry and contribute to the international efforts in environmental sustainability. We are currently farming around 2,100ha consisting of Wheat, Malting Barley, Rye, OSR, Sugar Beet, Vining Peas and, most recently, hemp! We are always looking at ways to diversify our farming practices and after conducting some research, it became clear that growing hemp ticked all the boxes! Not least because hemp as a crop requires very little water to grow compared with many other crops which makes its impact on the environment much lower whilst creating a great habitat for wildlife to thrive, which contributes to a more balanced ecosystem in our countryside. If that doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what will!
Jack and Mike Phelps
Wells, Somerset
Jack and Mike farm 700 acres in the historic cathedral city of Wells in Somerset. Their farm is focused on beef and arable. Jack has recently finished studying an agricultural degree at Harper Adams University and is hugely passionate about the cultivation of hemp and its importance as a crop going forward.
In Jack’s words, “I believe that hemp products will be a part of a huge global market in the near future…the benefit of growing it on our farm both for soil health and also keeping their farms carbon footprint down are extremely important to us.”