Welcome to Hempen Co-Operative

Frustrated by the institutions of school and the state, and having lived a childhood inspired by nature and community, Patrick Roberts decided to change the world for the better. In his case, 'better' meant building a world more in tune with its natural rhythms and free from the hypnotic death-pull of consumerism. He went on to found “Hempen,” a non-profit organic farming co-operative based in Oxfordshire, England, which aims to grow hemp for the benefit of people and the planet.

Roberts studied politics and philosophy and turned his frustrations to environmental and anti-capitalist grassroots, campaigning with horizontalist movements like the Climate Camp, as well as groups such as Bicycology, Plane Stupid, Workers Climate Action and Transition Heathrow. Eventually he became fascinated with building a community for meeting collective change and challenges. Challenges such as questions on how to survive climate change, peak oil and the breakdown of neoliberal capitalism.

The Earth Issue spoke to Hempen founder Patrick Roberts about the growth of his project, and the environmental benefits of hemp.

Tell us about your journey in founding Hempen?

My journey with Hempen started by acknowledging that I am nature. We all are. Everything we do to the planet we do to ourselves. To live in harmony with it is to live in harmony with ourselves. I had previously lived at Grow Heathrow, a permaculture community, where everything is based on common sense and a long-term perspective that, we are not apart from nature, but a part of it. The Earth and the people who inhabit it, are not separate, and as such, permaculture is really just an ancient wisdom applied in a contemporary context. My personal motivation for starting Hempen was my belief that hemp could not only facilitate the building of rural communities thanks to its many valuable properties, but also be one of the answers to the global environmental crisis.

Modern processing technologies have made it possible to create alternatives to gasoline, plastic, and other petroleum products that can help the human race lessen its reliance on polluting and expensive fossil fuels. Hemp is socially beneficial and environmentally miraculous for the health of people and the planet; whether you are measuring the qualities of the seed as a superfood, its flowers as a health supplement or its stalk as an eco-construction material, the possibilities are endless.

According to David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept there are three ethics central to permaculture: care for the earth, care for people, and fair share. How do you translate these main tenets, and how do you see Hempen redesigning our environment, and our behaviour towards nature?

Creatively respond to change - Hempen is part of a fast emerging hemp industry, where the consumer demand is growing and the legal terrain is changing in unpredictable ways. We employ a collaborative and agile business model so that we can dynamically adapt to changes in the market.

Catch and store energy – through photosynthesis, we know that the hemp plant uses the most efficient form of solar energy conversion. It also attracts lots of volunteers who give us valuable start up energy to help get the business through its most vulnerable early years.

Obtain a yield - we get many yields from the hemp plant, as it is known to have 50,000 uses. So far we've tried 247 of them. The more fruitful the harvest, the greater the opportunity to earn meaningful livelihoods through a community we can be proud to be a part of.

Use and value renewable resources - we get all our electricity and heat from renewable resources such as wood and solar.

Produce no waste - we use (or plan to use) all parts of the hemp plant and any bi-products from the processing to make other products.

Use and value diversity - as a living ecosystem we recognise that the health of our organisation depends on employing a range of characters to fulfil different aspects of the business.

Integrate - we are part of a wider community of the Harwick estate. The residents and businesses here form a community that participates together in events and celebrations. We also share the farm with a forest school, which supports some very marginalised and excluded young people from the surrounding area. With them we are planning to plant an edible hedge on the boundary we share.

Create greater community resilience - as a wider Hardwick community we can be self-sufficient for most of our food and energy, as our estate has everything from permaculture farms and market gardens, to foresters, builders and carpenters.

Use incremental solutions - as an organisation that started with very little cash and a lot of love, we have had to grow slowly and implement each step in an organic way through trial and error.

Observe and interact - we are constantly working out which type of hemp varieties grow best and which products our customers appreciate most.

Self-regulate and welcome feedback - we have a system of accountability-buddies who collectively support each other through check-ins, peer support and regular reviews.

Design flexible strategies - we are part of the broader British Hemp Association, which helps us understand our industry. We hold strategy days to work out how our co-operative and the products we develop can move with the flow of the market trends.

How do you and your community members engage with each other, and your natural surroundings?

At Hempen we live in a holistic way, our community being connected with the land: we grow our hemp from the soil; we heat our homes with the wood from the forest, we forage local mushrooms for our dinner and we celebrate the cycles of the sun and the moon in seasonal festivals, guiding the rhythm of our year. Equally, the wellbeing and purpose of each individual is supported to live in harmony with that of others, collectively manifesting itself within our community and co-operative business.

In what way is creativity encouraged at Hempen?

Creativity is essential for a dynamic adaptation in an everchanging world. A well designed permaculture system requires significant creativity to establish and tweak.

In order to spread word about our project, we turn to storytelling; as a creative and expressive process which binds all of our principles together. It is important that we tell the story of Hempen well, so that it becomes a story people want to hear. Additionally, our storytelling manifests itself through photography (such as Benjamin Eagle’s documentary project on us), which then becomes a mutual collaboration and exchange of energy.

How versatile is hemp? Are there any environmental/ economic advantages and disadvantages to hemp farming?

Hemp is one of the most useful plants on Earth. An ancient crop, hemp has served humanity since 2000 BCE - providing fibres for cloth and rope, building materials and paper. It’s also an incredible source of food, textiles, paper, fabric, fuel oil and alternatives to plastic.

It improves soil quality and requires neither pesticides and fertilisers, nor any additional irrigation. It also sequesters carbon at least 4 times faster than sustainable agriculture, making it great for the atmosphere, oceans and the environment in general. If we were to significantly grow hemp and use it to make hempcrete (or hemp-line: a natural building material) for construction, we would be able to lock significant amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere at a time when we are desperate to reduce carbon levels in order to fight the catastrophic environmental crisis.

The versatility of hemp is its major strength. There are 50,000 known uses of hemp, which means that as a crop it is a stable product in an unstable economy, but also a great crop to be grown for community resilience as it can meet so many immediate needs. If the economy were to crash tomorrow and we had to survive the collapse of civilisation, then hemp would help us through it all. We could burn hemp briquettes to keep us warm. We could power our tractors using hemp biodiesel. We could repair and rebuild our homes using hempcrete. We could eat the seed for our protein. We could keep ourselves healthy with our Cannabidiol (CBD and other cannabinoids are known to be particularly good for improving the functioning of our immune system as they uniquely benefit the development of the Endocannabinoid system which regulates homeostasis in the body.)... the only limit appears to be our imagination.

How can we include hemp in our everyday lives?

It's hard to know where to start with this as the possibilities are endless. The hemp plant is a renewable resource that can be produced domestically. It grows quickly, naturally resists plant diseases, requires little weeding, thrives in most climates, and enriches the soil it grows in. Hemp can replace the fish and meat that we intensively farm and overfish from the oceans as it is rich in protein and omega oils for you brain. The growing of the plant benefits the soil and sequesters more carbon than sustainable forestry. Hemp bioplastic is bio degradable and based on a renewable resource unlike plastic made from oil that litters the planet. Hempcrete is more insulating and easier to build than concrete and other standard building materials and it does not need such a high expenditure of CO2 in its construction.

What’s in store for Hempen - as a permaculture community, and a co-operative?

We believe in the power of hemp to provide a better world for everyone. All the money we make goes back into the cooperative, to support our vision of a fair economy, to pay fair wages and support other ethical projects. I see Hempen as establishing itself as the UK's premier ethical hemp brand and using its success to become a leader in combining enterprise with community building. As we build success with our food and health supplements, we will begin to offer more products under the Hempen umbrella in areas such as cosmetics, construction and more.

How can readers of The Earth Issue get involved with Hempen?

As a co-operative, we actively encourage working as a community and sharing our knowledge and our passion. The best way is to check us out is online via our social media (@hempenorganic ) or www.hempen.co.uk where you can sign up to volunteer on the farm and spend some time in our community to be part of our experience and growth.