Hempen Organic
What does your organisation do?
Hempen Organic is a not-for-profit workers’ co-operative, based in Oxfordshire, since 2015. Our mission is to grow and cultivate UK based organic hemp for the health of the people, rural communities and the land.
What does having a social impact mean to you?
For Hempen, Social impact, is all about liberating the freedom to grow / cultivate and use the incredible Hemp plant for all its many uses.
We see positive and significant change in our customers’ lives that comes from the use of Hemp as a supplement for wellbeing, and as a food through tea, protein powder and hemp seed oil. Hemp may also be used to create building materials and textiles, which are eco-friendly and energy efficient, thereby benefiting people and planet. The hemp plant is both a bio-accumulator and locks CO2 into the soil, so when planted in fields that have had toxic exposure or long season of over farming, it can help to improve the soil quality by taking out what is nasty and not needed, and providing much needed carbon dioxide to help enrich the micro-biology, thereby improving the quality of future crops grown on the same plot of land.
Hempen also hosts and collaborates with our social impact group called ‘Growing Solidarity’ as part of our community outreach work. Together we have partnered with Reading Refugee Support Group and Reading City of Sanctuary, to provide weekly sessions on the farm and in local neighbourhoods. We exchange skills, share knowledge, combat social isolation, and build resilience, with nature providing the foundations, tools and backdrop. Hempen sees that providing a place for refugees to connect with nature, people and make food together in community aids in supporting the social injustices / challenges they face when coming into a new county. .