| 33 Hopefield Hemp REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Hemp seed oil garners gold medal Celebrating their success - Blair and Jody Drysdale with their children Carly, left, Leah, and Fletcher. T T Kim Newth Southland farmers Blair and Jody Drysdale had been thinking about entering the Outstanding Food Producer Awards for some time before finally taking the plunge this year, and they couldn’t be happier with the outcome, having won a gold medal for their hemp seed oil produced on the family farm, Hopefield, at Balfour. “We missed the cut-off last year, but had been keeping an eye out for this year’s awards,” says Jody. “Other Southland producers had been urging us to get our entry in. We’re highly delighted to have won a gold medal. We now have a flash new gold sticker for Hopefield Hemp’s bottles of hemp seed oil!” These annual awards celebrate inspirational Kiwis that harvest, grow and produce New Zealand’s outstanding food and drink. “A gold medal in these awards validates your product and shows that your processes are really good,” says Blair. Inspired by hemp’s reputation as a natural support for health, the couple first decided to venture into the hemp industry in 2018, and now grow 10ha of hemp, on average, every year. They strongly control the product process, from planting and harvesting of seed, to small-l batch pressing, filtering and bottling, all to ensure quality and freshness for the end consumer. No chemicals or fertilisers are used over the hemp. ‘Pure, natural and sustainable’ is their guiding ethos. As Jody remarks, there are many steps involved in developing a small business like this – “And we did everything from day dot, including getting labels created and a website built, along with sorting out food safety compliance; it has been a massive learning curve.” Blair and Jody are often joined by their children – Carly, 16, Fletcher, 15 and Leah, 13 – when running local market stalls, and Carly frequently takes the lead on pressing. It’s a busy lifestyle for the family on this third-generation, 320ha farm, used predominantly for growing arable crops (wheat/barley) and sheep and beef farming. Hopefield Hemp further adds to the diversification equation. Final stage product manufacturing is the only part they don’t so themselves. A company in Invermay makes Hopefield Hemp’s hand and body cream to Jody and Blair’s specifications, and they also work with a Christchurch company to get the hemp seed oil capsules made. “Our capsules are most popular, and we’ve also had a lot of the bottled oil going out since the awards, and also through the summer, as it’s a lovely salad oil. Many people take it by the spoonful or have it on their breakfast. Some use it as face oil. “In winter and into spring, we sell a lot of our hand and body cream to farmers, who find that it’s really good for their skin, and our natural lip balm is proving pretty popular too,” Blair says. Hopefield Hemp supplies product to a select number of retailers in the region that know their story and the quality that lies behind it. Jody and Blair’s gold medal success follows hot on the heels of several awards at the Southland Ballance Farm Environment Awards, acknowledging their commitment to being responsible custodians of the land. Last year, they won the Environmental Leadership in Farming award at the Environment Southland Community Awards. Covering Otago & Southland 0800 227 226 www.advance-agriculture.co.nz Proud to support Hopefield Hemp Specialist Suppliers of Agricultural Chemical, Seed, Spray Equipment & GPS Precision Ag We are a locally owned and operated company servicing and supporting the rural communities of the Waimea Valley and greater Northern Southland Area. • Livestock • Bulk and General Cartage • Fert. Cartage & Spreading 2745Waimea Highway, RIVERSDALE | Ph. 03 202 4044 | andrews.transport@hwr.co.nz
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