Looking Back at Hemp’s Breakthrough on ABC Landline (2018)
In August 2018, QBL Media shared an edited segment from ABC’s Landline program, High Hopes: Farmers add hemp to their grain cropping programs. The piece, featuring QBL’s Technical Director Andrew Kavasilas, captured a pivotal moment in Australia’s hemp story, just months after hemp seed foods became legal for consumption in November 2017.
At the time, farmers were only beginning to explore hemp as a viable crop. Stuart Larson, one of Australia’s leading organic soybean producers, was trialing broadacre hemp for the first time. Despite drought conditions, the crop was showing resilience and promise compared to traditional grains.
Andrew, who had been growing hemp under permit since 1999, explained the strict oversight farmers faced, regular checks to ensure THC levels remained below legal limits. As Technical Director, he was helping steer the industry into uncharted territory, aiming to process 1,500 tonnes of hemp seed into food and oil products within a year.
But while hemp foods had finally entered the mainstream, the program also highlighted the frustrations around Australia’s cautious stance on medicinal and nutraceutical uses of hemp. Andrew noted that while global science was pointing to the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids, local regulation kept the industry boxed into food-only production.
“Industrial cannabinoids weren’t really considered as medicine,” Andrew said, “but now we have science showing us… I think that’s a game changer.”
Meanwhile, countries like Canada were moving boldly, legalising recreational cannabis and defying global drug conventions, raising questions about whether Australia was missing a golden opportunity.
For Australian processors like Waltanna Farms in Victoria, demand was already outpacing supply, with orders booked out well into 2019. But the challenge remained: no history, no proven varieties, and a fledgling agronomy base. The industry was starting from scratch, with high hopes but a long road ahead…
Why This Matters Now
Looking back, this Landline feature captures the mood of the industry at a critical turning point: optimism, frustration, and determination. Hemp food was new, the public was only just becoming aware of its nutritional benefits, and pioneers like Andrew Kavasilas were pushing the boundaries of what was possible.
Today, much has changed—but many of the same conversations remain. How do we unlock the full potential of hemp? How do we balance regulation with opportunity? And how do we make sure Australian farmers and processors lead, rather than follow, in this global market?
