Saturday, March 30, 2024

ALTERNATIVE VIEW: Wool-hemp is a match made in heaven

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I wrote a column a month ago about wool and some new initiatives that I thought were worthwhile.
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One of the stories came from Carrfields subsidiary NZ Yarn who would take a farmer’s wool clip and turn it into carpet at a fraction of the price of the conventional process.

When I was in Christchurch recently, I visited the NZ Yarn plant on the invitation of the chief executive Colin McKenzie. He is an enthusiast for all things farming. You couldn’t swing a cat in his office, which is full of all kinds of wool products that he’ll happily tell you about. The plant itself was impressive. The hot news, however, is that late last week they formed a new company New Zealand Natural Fibres (NZNF). Carrfields own 67% and Hemp NZ 33%. They intend to take wool-hemp mixes to the world.

Carrfields is a vertically integrated agricultural company that’s been around since the ‘70s. Hemp NZ was established in 2008.

NZ Yarns and Hemp NZ have been working together since 2018. They developed a hemp processing line that separates the hemp fibre from the non-fibre.

I found it interesting as the dried hemp in the store looked like straw. I was surprised anything workable would come out of it. I was wrong as the hemp fibre is long, smooth and strong.

According to McKenzie, NZNF is world-leading. 

“No one else in the world is doing it,” he said. “We can really add value to NZ fibres.”

There’s a machine they’ve imported from Europe to process the fibre. The only one in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is most impressive.

The advantage of hemp is that it is fast-growing (90 days) and requires little to no chemicals or fertiliser. It’s also good at sucking nitrates from the soil.

It is a super food high in protein and omega three, six and nine, gluten free and its fibre is strong.

When mixed with wool it is an amazing product, as everything that wool does now can be made with a wool-hemp mix. The mix increases the product potential of wool.

Predictably, the mix has considerable potential in the apparel industry and in carpets that aren’t susceptible to the carpet beetle. It is used in food packaging and in the building industry, both as acoustic panels and construction material. The mix is not flammable or micro-bacterial.

Where it has massive potential, is as a natural replacement of the carbon composites that are currently used in racing car bodies and top of the line bikes.

Anything that carbon fibre can be used for today, can be replaced with a natural fibre tomorrow. The project is very much about adding value and not volume.

The potential for wool and hemp to replace carbon fibre is huge. At a basic level there are bearing seals, electrical brushes and brake pads. For sporting goods there is a considerable market with tennis rackets and golf clubs. For heavy engineering there are aircraft, trucks and railways, and for defence there is personal armour. 

It is also environmentally sustainable, whereas the present carbon fibre manufacturing system isn’t.

NZNF makes a special fabric out of hemp and wool that’s a little like a fibreglass sheet. Its woven fabric is sent offshore to have a specific resin added that is biodegradable.

Currently, an epoxy resin is used that is both nasty to work with and doesn’t break down. It has been in the environment for centuries.  

What NZNF has done is take a basic commodity like wool, add hemp and produce a high-technology product that is both much-needed and environmentally-friendly. It ticks all the boxes for NZ Inc and gives farmers an additional option for what has been a cheap commodity product.

NZNF are currently offering farmers direct supply contracts at a “significant premium.”

They say they’re at the ground level with the hemp market which is at a “premium level.” They also have “enthusiastic international partnerships.”

McKenzie says that “in five years they intend to be a major international player and a significant NZ farming business”. 

Hemp is synergistic with wool and the mixture opens up new areas for wool, such as building materials.  

As you may gather, I came away from the NZNF launch enthusiastic. Here were two NZ companies working together for the good of the country and the good of farmers. They can mix wool with hemp and open a considerable number of new uses for the product that is wool.

The companies aren’t big, sexy or high profile, but they’re certainly achievers. Looking at their websites they also are committed to research and development, and also to NZ.

I certainly wish them well and thank them for sharing their story with me. 

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