This sub-board covers what happens to a hemp crop after harvest. The stalk is separated into long fibre and woody core. The straw is retted. The seed is cleaned and cold pressed into oil and protein. The stalk fractions become building materials, textiles and paper.
Why processing decides whether a hemp project works
A field of hemp only earns money once someone buys what comes out of it. Many hemp projects have a growing plan but no buyer lined up. They get stuck there.
Transport is the first problem. Raw hemp stalk is bulky and light: a truck fills up long before it reaches its weight limit. Moving stalk far is therefore expensive.
That is why decortication usually happens close to the field. Decortication is the mechanical step that separates the stalk into two parts:
- bast fibre: the long, strong fibres from the outer layer of the stalk, used for textiles, rope and paper;
- hurd: the short, woody pieces from the inner core, used for animal bedding and building materials such as hempcrete.
Buyers rarely want “hemp”. They want a specific fibre grade in a specific tonnage. Your plan should start from that.
What you can do: before you plant, find at least one buyer and write down three things: which product they want (bast fibre, hurd or seed), what grade, and how many tonnes. Then work out how far the stalk must travel to a decorticator. This tells you whether the crop can pay for its transport.
Translator’s note: ask the hemp community in this sub-board whether a decortication line is operating within trucking distance of your area. We could not confirm from public sources which commercial decortication lines currently operate in Thailand. If none is close, plan the whole route (field, storage, decorticator, buyer) before you plant, not after harvest.
Fibre grade is set by retting
Retting is the step where the cut stalks are left to partly rot, usually in the field with dew and rain, or in water. Microbes break down the natural glue that holds the fibre to the woody core. This makes the fibre easier to separate.
The variety you plant matters, but it does not set fibre grade on its own. Retting does. Straw that is under-retted keeps too much glue, so fibre and core do not separate cleanly. Straw that is over-retted has weakened fibre. Neither problem can be fixed later in the processing line.
What you can do: check a handful of stalks every few days during retting. Bend and peel them to see how easily the fibre comes away. Stop retting and dry the straw when the fibre separates cleanly but is still strong. Ask your buyer what fibre condition they expect, so you know when to stop.
Translator’s note: in Thailand and much of Southeast Asia, the rainy season brings long spells of high humidity. Field retting under those conditions can go too far, or mould can spoil the straw before it dries. Plan the harvest so retting and drying fall in a drier period, or have a covered, ventilated place to dry the straw. Keep notes of the dates and weather for each batch, so you learn how many days retting takes on your farm.
Food products are a separate regulatory track
Hemp seed oil and seed protein are foods. They must meet food processing requirements. Fibre and hurd are not food, and the rules for them are different.
If you put food processing and fibre processing into one facility plan, approval for the whole plan can be delayed by whichever part is slower. This is a common way projects lose months.
What you can do: prepare the food side as its own project, with its own building plan, documents and timeline. Keep it apart from the fibre side, so one does not hold up the other.
Translator’s note: in Thailand, food products are regulated by the Thai Food and Drug Administration (อย.). Ask the Thai FDA which food registration or permit applies to hemp seed oil and hemp seed protein before you sell them. Growing and processing hemp (กัญชง) also needs the correct licences. Check with the relevant Thai authorities which licences currently apply to your crop and your processing, because the rules changed in 2025–2026. Confirm both before you invest in equipment. For more on the seed itself, see hemp seed nutrition and why hemp seed oil is not CBD oil.
What this sub-board needs from you
This sub-board does not yet have many reference articles of its own. What it needs first are processing questions and equipment discussion.
Useful posts include: which decorticator or seed press you use and its throughput, how you ret and dry straw in local weather, and what grade and tonnage buyers have asked you for. Post your question below this topic, or start a new topic in this sub-board.
Related reading elsewhere on the forum: