FEATURE- Hemp Hype

From working the rich, fertile plains of the Riverina, to the Philippines, and Cambodia during the dangerous Khmer Rouge era, Maleny agronomist John Muir has ridden a wave of agricultural innovation that has seen him at the forefront of Australia’s emerging hemp industry.

by Judy Fredriksen

It’s hard to imagine a sailing-loving boy from Manly Harbour, Sydney, going to agricultural college, but John Muir did. 

“I went to Hawkesbury Ag College at Richmond, about an hour west of Sydney, and kept heading west. I never came back,” says John. 

Initially, the young adventurer spent 12 years working as an agronomist in the Riverina, providing advice to farmers about rice, corn, pastures, saltbush and dryland farming in one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. 

During this time, he met and married Trudi, with inherent curiosity stirring the pair into overseas travel. They then spent two years in Cambodia from 1992–1993, a time marked by turmoil in the post-Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge United Nations era. 

Despite the ever-present threat of danger, John found the Cambodian experience rewarding, explaining that the pioneering type of more sustainable rice farming systems was huge on the Mekong. It was his forte, he revelled in it and even learnt to speak

Khmer to make it easier for him to communicate with the local farmers. 

When his contract finished, the couple enjoyed more adventure on their way home to Australia. 

“When we came back from Cambodia, we backpacked through South-East Asia for six months. Trudi wanted to be nearer to family, so we moved to Queensland.” 

The couple eventually settled in Maleny with John working as the manager of Barung Landcare. 

“Because Barung was one of the biggest Landcare groups in Australia, the Queensland DPI (Dept of Primary Industries) picked me to go to the Philippines for several years for conservation work on farming on steep land, using the Landcare approach … which is the ‘bottom up approach, the people development process … not the top down, we know what’s good for you’ attitude.”

John’s involvement in this project led to him writing the first FarmCare Code of Practice for sustainable fruit and vegetable production in Queensland. That was in 2000.

“So after 30 years of the game in agriculture, overseas and in Cambodia, the Philippines and in Australia, I was approached in Maleny by none other than Phil Warner in 2010 to help him develop the industry of ‘hemp startup’ in Australia.” 

In 1996 Phil had founded Ecofibre Industries, a company that invested US$15 million into research and development of industrial hemp because he could see its multi-purpose value, including its suitability as a building material. 

The Romans had used hemp to build aqueducts and bridges 2000 years ago, and some of those are still standing, says John. 

Considered the ‘Father of the Hemp Industry’ in Australia, Phil had been directly involved in advising governments and encouraging legislative change for the industry in Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Malawi and the United States.

And it just so happened that after living and working all over the world, Phil had also settled in Maleny. 

Hemp can be transformed into fibrous, flexible sheeting, or briquettes known as ‘hempcrete’ which can then be used to construct houses and buildings. According to

John and Phil – who both have hempcrete buildings – hemp is an effective insulator, making buildings more energy efficient and therefore, needing less electricity for heating and cooling. The product is also more fire-resistant than timber.

Phil went on to grow Australia’s first commercial crop of hemp in Tasmania, defying the likes of the CSIRO which said Australia’s climate was not suitable for growing hemp. 

As an agronomist for AgriFutures, John’s expertise lies in the growing of the plant, with him currently overseeing trials at nine sites all around Australia: Katherine; the Ord River;

Western Australia; South Australia; Victoria; Tasmania; the University of Queensland, Gatton; and on farms nationally.

Under the right growing conditions, hemp improves the soil fertility, and the biological activity. This in turn improves carbon content which regulates the earth’s temperature and the nutritional makeup of the foods that sustain us. 

With such an extensive background in agriculture, John is also involved with several Co-operative Research Centres, a Federal Government program that was established in 1990 to fund industry-led collaborations between industry, researchers and end users.

“So there’s now quite a lot of research being thrown at it (hemp) through these different government and industry collaborations to understand this magical, incredible, plant,” says John. 

Meanwhile it is interesting to know that the research and development of commercial hemp in Australia all came about when Phil, who grew up in Western and Central Queensland, was travelling out west and saw the desperate need to ‘bring business back to the bush’. This is something he is fiercely passionate about.

In the same way that the government created the post-WWII car industry and supported farmers to develop the cotton industry in a bid to generate employment and promote manufacturing, Phil would like to see more government support around hemp farming – a crop that can be grown in regional Australia, creating employment and boosting small communities. 

The growing of hemp is a complex value chain, so even though there is still a long way to go before hempcrete will become commonplace in Australian buildings, the industry has an exciting future, says John.