Koaka’s Biogro Certified Organic Hemp

Kōaka’s hemp is grown on the Grice’s Family BioGro Certified Organic Farm, which is based on the fertile, free draining flats of the Canterbury plains; beneath the snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps. 

The Grice’s crops are harvested at the start of March, which is around 100 days after they have been planted. Each year this yields approximately 1.5 tons of organic New Zealand hemp seed - dressed and dried. This is a fantastic result for an industry which is currently in its infancy of growing support and industry knowledge. 

Kōaka uses the Grice’s BioGro certified hemp seed oil as the base for all our products. This ensures we can create organic products grown and produced in New Zealand whilst knowing this is the best hemp seed oil in the world. 

After our harvest, we dry the crop in Ashburton before delivering it to Mainland Hemp in Culverden. At Mainland Hemp, the seeds are stored in silos until they are required for dehulling and cold pressing. The organic seed is put through a dehulling machine where it is graded.

The smaller seeds; around 60% of the seeds graded, are then separated for cold pressing. Cold pressing is the process we use to perfectly extract the precious oil stored within each seed. 

During the cold-pressing process we feed the dried seeds into a hopper connected to a large pressing machine. This machine uses a cone sized drill to press the oil from the seed. It presses gently on the seed and eventually the oil then drips through the press for collection. 

Cold-pressing as an oil extraction process is the pinnacle of oil extraction as it allows for the precious hemp seed oil to remain at a stable temperature in which the omega 3, 6 & 9 are all kept at their optimal state for the benefit of the skin and bodies of all our whānau.

Hemp seed oil becomes unstable at high temperatures above 40 degrees which means for the optimal hemp seed oil we cannot use heat to extract the oil or process it. Cold pressing is a manual but important tool in ensuring we retain the profile of the essential fatty acids and don’t allow any of the oil to then breakdown and lose its potent healing properties.