HempConnect Hamburg

Our project is just about to complete the ideation phase.

Inspiration

Sow now for a green future We want to change the set of crops we put on our lands and the way we utilize them up the value chain.

We tackle global problems with local solutions We rethink consumption from a reversed perspective. First demand, then supply. Do that as regional as possible and use only the necessary resources. Use resources in an ecologic way and make sure that any ecosystem remains in balance.

What it does

Project-based crowd-farming for impact products made from ecologic renewable materials. Our project builds a community for the hemp industry, to bring to the table all stakeholders. Farmers as producers of ecologic raw material, SMEs as regional and low footprint manufacturers, consumers as buyers of impact goods. We offer pre-selling to ensure that no seed will be planted in vein. Hemp is an incredibly ecologic plant that can be utilized in countless ways, for example, Textiles, Cosmetics, Paper & Packaging. Additionally, its ecologic properties are unchallenged in the industrial renewable material space AND it binds around 9-13 tons of CO2 per hectare in just 3 months. So to say, a crop that may be utilized as one of the top raw materials for the future bio-economy while helping to reverse climate change. Doesn't that sound incredible? Why isn't this common practice already? T The industry struggles with a classic chicken-egg problem. That is what we're trying to solve! And, in doing so, we'd pave the way for other ecologic niche crops.

How we built it

We have worked in the Hemp Industry for 2+ years. Our own pilot project of 5 hectares in 2020 went pretty well and we sorted out all kinds of distribution possibilities. For countless hours we have thought about how we can support Hemp to be adapted as a renewable raw material. The requirements were so many! Regionality, CO2 sequestration, economically viable for the Farmer, solving soil problems, establishing transparent supply chains, still delivering affordable products, scalability to maximize impact...and then lot of people still laugh about Hemp. We asked ourselves: Is this even possible?? In January this year, we couldn't wait any longer for the industry progress to happen and needed to start taking the realization into our own hands. Now, we're receiving great support from the Social Impact Lab Hamburg and the Hafven Accelerator Hannover. We think that we are very close to having cracked the code :)

Challenges we ran into

A linkage to climate change One of our deepest desire is to contribute to our transforming environment. Business is the instrument of our capitalistic system. How do we incentivize everyone along the supply chain to be part of collective action, radically reduce CO2, and at the same time be a happy customer? Which crops derive renewable materials, sequestrate a lot of CO2 and remediate the soil?

How to trick capitalism. Agricultural commodity trading is as old as the hills. How do we break that structure with new crops?

Giving enough value to the farmer. The Farmer, the very producer of renewable materials, struggles in Germany. Bad soil health, restrictions, dumping prices of conventional crops... the list of worries is long, and as numerous are the protests. How do we ensure the economic & ecological value the Farmer needs and deserves? By building fair supply-chains!

Who's manufacturing the products? Many SME manufacturers put a lot of love into their products and create much better quality than mass production. How do we access this part of the value chain and what do we offer them to join our mission?

How to cut distributors? Big distributors often ruin the margin calculation. In some examples we found, the distributor 10 folded the margin in comparison to the farmer. That can't possibly be fair.

A transparent Supply-Chain. We believe that transparency will be one of the most important indicators for conscious consumption. So how do we display that? From Seed to Home, the Customer should have the opportunity to follow the journey!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We've conducted our pilot project in 2020, 5 hectares of Hemp in Lower-Saxony! We could sell some of the product and start tests. Along the way, we managed to build a network of amazing like-minded people! Eventually, we got admitted by the Climate Change Incubator, Social Impact Lab Hamburg, as well as the Impact Accelerator by Hafven Hannover, and the Founder Institute in Berlin.

What we learned

We learned that even when trying to solve global problems, local solutions are a good start. One step after another. Think big and never give up to reach that. But only put as much on your plate as you can eat and digest.

What's next for HempConnect Hamburg

Our next step is to build our online community to onboard all our network of farmers, manufacturers, hemp businesses, and other stakeholders so that we can unify everyone in one place. Then establish projects and offer them for pre-selling before they will be produced. This year we collaboratively farm on around 140 hectares. With that are we will be able to sequester around 1.400 tons of CO2. We want to measure the soil improvements and publicly promote these findings to raise awareness.