UK Hemp Farm loses license and has to destroy £200,000 worth of it's Crop!! An Interview with HEMPEN

HEMPEN INTERVIEW:

In July 2019 HCM visited a beautiful part of the Oxfordshire countryside to interview some of the worker cooperative that is Hempen. Unfortunately, the circumstances of our visit were to report on a disappointing day for hemp here in the UK.

Oxfordshire based hemp farmers Hempen, have recently had their home office license revoked for growing hemp on their farm based on a complicated application process, a lack of guidance and understanding, and sparse and limited communication from the home office.

After finally having their license revoked, and receiving legal advice, Hempen made the decision to destroy all of their hemp crop for this season to avoid prosecution. A sad story for the UK’s hemp farming scene and one that will not go unnoticed amongst supporters of hemp in this country. Hempen have estimated the destroyed crop’s value would be approximately £200,000 and that is without them even selling the most lucrative part of the plant (unlike similar farms are permitted to do in countries such as switzerland).

The Hemp & CBD Media team were on hand to catch up with Patrick, and Ali from Hempen and find out more about how this will effect them going forwards, the financial implications, and how it will impact them as a working community.

We wish them all the best in their efforts to contest this issue in the future.

Share your thoughts on this video below in the comments, and to keep up with the latest from Hempen – you can visit their blog here:

https://www.hempen.co.uk/blog/

Additionally you can sign the petition below to “Change the Hemp License Hypocrisy”

50 Comments

  1. RUDERALEX CBD on May 3, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    Hope they got their licence back this year 2021….



  2. Dylan Wheeler on May 3, 2021 at 6:23 pm

    There should be no laws on growing a plant the government we have is a load of bollocks y should we all have to live lives the way the people with money want its atrocious the way we r dictated by the government and what people can grow and do



  3. anon 4658 on May 3, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    you got a loicence mate?



  4. Martin Foden on May 3, 2021 at 6:26 pm

    We want to grow the flowers. Harvest the flower. 36 times I say this



  5. samuraineko3 on May 3, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    Starving kids in Africa could have smoked that



  6. Martin Foden on May 3, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    You had my attention till she said I’m a vegan….



  7. Whitecut on May 3, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    Like being given a vineyard license that only grants permission to grow leaves and seeds, but not grapes.



  8. Syamilia Milia on May 3, 2021 at 6:29 pm

    Thanks. CBD tea/Drop/Oil/her product Original 500mg 10ml in UK cheap price .
    https://www.cbddirect2u.store/



  9. vvs bee on May 3, 2021 at 6:30 pm

    why can’t you relocate and apply for licence in another registered persons?



  10. Shawn Conway on May 3, 2021 at 6:30 pm

    Our government is failing us! They are controlling us and not the other way around! There is no logical or moral argument for what happened here. To let them get away with this is MADNESS and we need a revolution! Hemp = ££££ in every country it’s grown!



  11. Psychedelic Colouring on May 3, 2021 at 6:32 pm

    This situation is outrageous, I am devastated this happened to Hempen. I hope the group will bounce back, you’re on the right side of history. Great film, thank you for making it so quickly.



  12. Barry Winsbury on May 3, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    where is our governments heads you cannot grow for seed without growing flowers, its natures course. Our government has imported flowers from Althea from Australia yesterday . this is restrictive practices, double standards and deservedly a case to be brought against our government



  13. Amanda Razz on May 3, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    It makes NO sense for the home office to deny your licence. I currently buy CBD from the US. I would love to support a UK farmer to thrive. Bureaucracy has no place in making such uninformed decisions that devastate valuable UK businesses. Especially a business that has so many advantages for our population. What can we do to support you to turn this around?



  14. Shelley Mason on May 3, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    I am so sorry all your hard work as gone ! This is very worrying that a crop which could help improve lives, help the environment and importantly improve the ecology of our land, this company is open honest and ethical. While other business get fined year after year far more concerning public health issues this is ridiculous!



  15. Kerry Agutter on May 3, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    Disgusting it really is they are lovely plants the look amazing in flower I love the plant they are amazing



  16. Peter Aston on May 3, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    Is thissssa because he is competition for mays husband then again his is on 17 hectares off MOD land



  17. Bradley on May 3, 2021 at 6:39 pm

    Some people know what Hemp as a plant can do for the world, but until politicians stop taking cash from big corporations to halt it’s progress it will never be grown on a national basis. Even if all the people in the UK knew the benefits they would not give a hoot, they would moan about it and then give up like always.



  18. Hellen Carter on May 3, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    The same goes for the people in the Caribbean, who have the knowledge passed down to them so welcome to the club of being held back.



  19. TITAN0402 on May 3, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    Hemp is just cultivated cannabis sativa with low THC levels that was grown and bred for other yields not just flowers. It’s hard to find a decently grown cultivated strain, hemp seed contains all essential amino acids. There are many uses for cannabis a great use is cattle feed and the cows express the cannabinoids in the milk of the cow and you can drink it from there CBD is the cannabinoid I know of that does that, I’m not sure about THC I’m sure the cow would uptake that part of the plant for it’s own psychedelic use… Tip if you want to rejuvenate you go…plant nitrogen fixators, peas, alfalfa, clover, any plants etc the cannabis family is known for attracting beneficial organisms such as rhizobium bacteria which convert N2 in to N3 if memory serves me right…anyway they’re good guys and to attract them sow plants in the soil that pump out exudates in to the rhizosphere that attract the bacteria you want to cultivate and express etc…rosaceae family works well too and I’d recommend just checking out the nitrogen fixing Claude out in general for further info on what plants you can grow to help increase soil health and soil biodiversity.



  20. Vj Avzone on May 3, 2021 at 6:44 pm

    So wrong
    🤨



  21. Rudy Silva on May 3, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    This is sad it natural and it medication,if you don’t like it you don’t have to smoke it,plan and simple,I’ve seen first hand the medicinal properties that it has.I have help countless number if people qhen I worked at a smoke shop,hemp is the cousin of marijanna,so it’s has no psychoactive properties,100% functional because of lack of the THC,they killed alot of medicine for alot of people,



  22. Ru made on May 3, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    I’m so so sorry guys. It’s disgusting. I hope you can survive.



  23. J JC on May 3, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    Burn in hell the government of the U.K. fcking uneducated retards



  24. analiensaturn on May 3, 2021 at 6:49 pm

    Why?



  25. CLEAR Cannabis Law Reform on May 3, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    Just about everyone agrees with you that this policy is ridiculous but your explanations of what has happened to you is extremely misleading.

    Prohibition of use of the flowers and leaves has been written into the Misuse of Drugs Act since 1971! Why are you behaving as if it is news 48 years later?

    Nothing has changed in Home Office policy. This is simply a licence holder breaking the terms of their licence.

    It is well established and published policy for many years that a low THC industrial hemp licence will not allow extraction of cannabinoids.

    A licence for such an application is much more difficult to get and much more expensive. You will need to apply for it on the same basis as any other controlled drugs licence and not using the ‘off the shelf’ low THC industrial hemp application.



  26. jay on May 3, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    Mins in to this and I’m telling you these guys are too nice to do this for a living …. if u think the sting dealers on the streets are ruthless understand ur going up against phill may 🤔



  27. Bobby s Dhanjal on May 3, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    Bastard governments I feel for the farmer and his team, thank you government for ruining hard working peoples lives



  28. Jillyjogs on May 3, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    This is just appalling, when pharmaceutical industries continue to profit from the nations sickness, and you want to heal. All about money isn’t it – greed.



  29. Montague Withnail on May 3, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    I was appalled when I heard this on the news. This government is a shower, an absolute shower…



  30. BRM on May 3, 2021 at 6:54 pm

    Disgraceful what the government did to this company 🤯



  31. vvs bee on May 3, 2021 at 6:55 pm

    i have heard that uk exports lots of flower to other countries and also certain politicians family have full licence to grow flower for export containing thc?



  32. Steve Jones on May 3, 2021 at 6:56 pm

    The law is not fit for purpose.



  33. Whitecut on May 3, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    Plan, Plant, Planet



  34. Priya Xeria on May 3, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    What just doesn’t sit with me, is this they collaborate with each importing products form other countries, now we have scientists all over the world and what they are saying is they have come from with what I’ve seen on the bbc news, three men went out to look what Canada has, so Canada and other countries have given it the go ahead to treat, why haven’t they agreed with other countries! We are buying pharmaceutical medicines all over the world why are they not agreeing? Because they need to line the pockets first, it was ok before 1930 to give as medicine but! When big pharma! Corporations came into play they need sick people, to make a living, they don’t need cananbis as cure for for..they have come out with nice guidelines to make it difficult or they have adjusted it themselves, WHY do we need different scientists to YES from uk it’s ok? It was ok in the first place, they have banned it called it or even changed its name ! marawana and said with proganada wide stream it’s a dangerous drug and took it out of the system of medication ❤️



  35. Shawn Conway on May 3, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    Yet Teresa mays farm is growing flower for pharma use! Corruption!

    So we aren’t allowed to grow cannabis or hemp because it’s “unhealthy “ and is a risk to the public? Yet alcohol, cigarettes and heroine from your doctor are ok!?

    This is blatant bulls hit now, rebel! They are using their powers of Parliament to steal money and opportunity from the people who they are supposed to serve!

    I like many had a hemp licence rejected because the THOUGHT I was going to grow plants for flower.

    This is bias, inflated, classist controlling bulkshit and the government needs to pay for being against the people! It’s time for a revolution!

    In the current system, we the people have absolutely no say in how the country is run!

    Rebel!



  36. T-unit on May 3, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    law is evil



  37. Bud Henry on May 3, 2021 at 7:01 pm

    He should grow potatoes. No problems



  38. Jo Titman on May 3, 2021 at 7:02 pm

    Wow! I bet Phillip May’s company still has their licence!



  39. Pussy Tigress on May 3, 2021 at 7:02 pm

    Farm loses licence, not ‘license’. In the UK ‘licence’ is the noun, whereas ‘license’ is the verb. It’s astounding that this actually needs to be pointed out. Clearly standards are indeed dropping.



  40. catalick converta on May 3, 2021 at 7:03 pm

    Such a beautiful crop



  41. Nick Rudd on May 3, 2021 at 7:03 pm

    Why ? Threat to paper trade? building material trade? Pharmaceutical trade? HEMP is harmless unless your business makes something hemp could build cheaper.



  42. Sosig on May 3, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    you must have been encroaching on the UK GOV’s own thriving cannabis business for them to do this to you. look it up, many Mps even have shares in the business im on about. crazy world. this country is so backwards



  43. Joseph Adamson on May 3, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    So they are pushing people to go take "illegal" ways in order to feed their families.



  44. applewormcar on May 3, 2021 at 7:13 pm

    40 acres of land? I would not describe that as nothing. Toffs. Would’ve been better off shushed up in a loft lol.



  45. ਅਤਵਾਦੀ on May 3, 2021 at 7:13 pm

    Truth shall prevail and the governments deliberate planned obsolescence of Hemp growing locally is so they can monopolise it as much as possible.



  46. Mike Harlington on May 3, 2021 at 7:13 pm

    Hempen were warned in 2017 and 2018, every licence that is granted states that you must destroy the flowers and leaves. Nothing has changed, nothing is ambiguous, you cannot and never have been able to use the flower.

    Legitimate farmers have been trying to get exclusions since 2015 with buyers and contracts already in place. They have failed.

    Yes the law is an ass, but the fact is, these people are not telling the truth and have deliberately attempted to produce illegal products. This is why the industry is in the state it is in.



  47. Pigfish Pie on May 3, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    Anyone know if they’re back in business for 2020?



  48. Stephen Cozens on May 3, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    I really hope you get your license back. I’m a great believer in the cultivation of this plant as it has so many uses and could create so many jobs as well as provide good carbon offsets.



  49. Shawn Conway on May 3, 2021 at 7:16 pm

    Hempen expanded and Teresa May saw them as competition so she told the head of MHRA to deny the licence renewal

    Simple corruption!
    But yall keep voting for what they tell you to,

    Ima head out 🇬🇧 🔥



  50. Aaron Lewis on May 3, 2021 at 7:18 pm

    Seems like there are far more educated growers out there that should be farming instead of people who couldn’t follow a law in existence since 1971. See, i didn’t know that until i read the comments, or the fact there is a license specific to CBD extraction. Initially i was supportive, but if your failure was a result of a lack of competence and due diligence, then i feel no pity. Sorry i’m not sorry, i do however fully support the legalization of cannabis and manufacture of THC and CBD.