HempFlax at 25: Building on a legacy of innovation
“Our
factory and farm yard looked like a graveyard of all kinds of
agricultural machines,” remembers HempFlax CEO Mark Reinders.
Victims
of an early flurry of trial and error harvesting and processing hemp
fiber, the idle machinery was a reflection of the dream of HempFlax
visionary Ben Dronkers, who founded the company in 1993.
“Ben
founded HempFlax mainly to prove to all the skeptics that hemp could
be a modern industrial crop,” Reinders said. Dronkers had been
active in the cannabis industry for decades, and he knew the extent
to which hemp had been used for industrial purposes in the past,
Reinders noted.
“We embrace and promote the philosophy of the circular economy.”
“When
we started operations in the early ‘90s, nobody knew how to harvest
or process hemp because the crop had been forbidden for 60 years,”
Reinders recalled. As a result, no technological advancements for
harvesting and turning hemp into products had been made for decades.
“We
first tried to process hemp in a flax mill on a traditional flax
scutching line (the genesis of “Flax” in the company’s name),”
Reinders said. “Very soon we found out that hemp processing needed
specialized technology” – technology robust enough to handle
what’s generally considered to be the toughest of nature’s
fibers.
Global
icon
Fast
forward to today and HempFlax has a corporate identity known to hemp
stakeholders and enthusiasts all over the world. It is the very model
of a 21st Century, international, vertically integrated hemp company
working to exploit the entire plant for all its promise.
Through
25 years, HempFlax’s list of achievements is remarkable:
• From
140 hectares of Dutch hemp fields from its first planting in 1994,
the company expanded into 2,600 ha in three countries by 2018.
• By
2009 HempFlax began widening its portfolio, first to textiles when it
acquired a needle punch non-woven line suitable for hemp fibers.
• Through
the years, HempFlax has established relationships with blue-chip
automakers Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Bentley, Porsche, and Bugatti to
whom it supplies interior car parts.
• In
a major development for the industry, the company has advanced the
hemp harvesting process via its Double Cut Combine, which debuted in
2014. Developed with giant U.S. farm implement maker John Deere, the
technology features an upper header that catches leaves and flowers
as a lower unit harvests the hemp stalks. HempFlax runs three of
those machines in its own operations, has built and sold three
others, and is sitting on an additional three orders due for delivery
this year, according to Reinders.
• In
2015, the company opened a state-of-the-art decortication factory
that added 40,000 metric tons of annual capacity to bring the
company’s total potential to 55,000 tons.
• Other
technology investments include development of controlled drying
facilities that turn out super high-quality biomass, started in 2013;
and a production line that makes pelletized hemp fiber for the
injection molding and compounding industries started in 2016.
HempFlax is a leading developer of new applications for hemp fibers
in these sectors.
• Perhaps
most significantly, HempFlax entered the CBD sector in 2013, and
since that time has been adding downstream CO2-based processing for
whole plant extracts that go into capsules and tinctures sold through
Hempure, its white-label division.
Focus
on sustainability
“Being
a pioneer is hard and expensive work,” Reinders said looking back
over the company’s two-and-a-half decades in business.
“Next
to developing technology the company also needs to develop markets,
and most of the times markets for the products are not there,” he
said. “On the other hand without being able to supply significant
volume of hemp products, it is impossible to build a market.”
The
key, according to Reinders, is to capture the value of the whole
crop. “Focusing on only one revenue stream from the crop makes you
vulnerable to market developments,” he cautioned.
Through
it all, HempFlax has always put sustainability front and center,
emphasizing the role hemp can play in cleaning up the planet.
“We
embrace and promote the philosophy of the circular economy,” an
economic system aimed at minimising waste while maximizing raw
materials, Reinders said.
“We
do a lot to stimulate awareness of hemp’s possibilities among
entrepreneurs around the world. In this way, we contribute to the
sustainability of their companies too,” he added.
With
plans to expand growing fields to 3,500 hectares by 2020, HempFlax is
projecting demand will be strongly driven by the CBD sector.
“Although
some said CBD was over-hyped, it now looks like it will be an
accepted and widely used food supplement or additive. We think it can
have the same position as vitamin C in the near future,” Reinders
said.
He
expects continuing developments beyond what he calls the current
‘Generation One’ CBD products now available.
“Continous
developments on formulations and applications are necessary to
further develop this market,” he said. To keep up with the pace of
change, the company brought on board a nutraceutical professional, as
it continues to explore disruptive extraction methods and
technologies, according to Reinders.
Plastics
& construction
Meanwhile,
HempFlax will invest in developing hemp raw materials for such things
as pellets for injection molding and hemp-based construction
materials; the company is already making pre-fabricated roof panels,
has orders for at least a couple pre-fab homes this year, and added a
construction expert to staff to serve that division of the company.
“Our
biggest dream is to replace cotton with hemp,” Reinders said of the
company’s R&D into fabrics.
As
for its international plans, Reinders said HempFlax has followed
closely developments in the USA, which this year legalized hemp
federally under the U.S. Farm Bill. “We think it is time to cross
the ocean and are looking for the best opportunity to bring our
knowhow and technology,” he said.
What’s
next?
Though
HempFlax has gotten big, the company has maintained the experimental,
entrepreneurial drive that gave it life back in 1994 when that first
crop went into the Dutch soil.
With
decades of experience in hemp growing and processing among its key
managers and a staff just as passionate and dedicated to hemp as
Dronkers, Reinders believes HempFlax is well positioned in the
firmament of the world’s iconic hemp brand names.
“Our many years in the business give the company a major competitive advantage in knowhow,” Reinders said. “Our horizon is broad, as is our approach to the whole plant. So we feel we’re positioned for whatever the next 25 years might bring.”