Product Pathway Economic Rough Guide
Status: Draft
Date updated: 2026-06-10
Phase: Phase 2 - Secondary Research
Sensitivity: Public-source evidence only; no private prices, contracts, buyer terms or direct contact details.
Purpose
This interim rough guide translates the current secondary research into a product-pathway economic scaffold for the Granite Borders region.
It is not a farm budget, investment case or profitability finding. It is a working guide for deciding which figures must be populated before the project can assess whether an industrial hemp industry would be commercially viable in current Tenterfield Shire and the historic Stanthorpe Shire area.
The guide should be used to:
- keep each product pathway financially separate;
- identify the minimum figures needed for future economic scenarios;
- show which figures are currently evidenced and which are placeholders;
- support later grower, processor and buyer validation; and
- prevent retail product prices, promotional claims or non-local assumptions being mistaken for farm-gate economics.
Evidence Position
The current evidence base supports an economic scaffold, not a Granite Borders profitability conclusion.
| Evidence item | Current use in this guide | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| AgriFutures 2023 BMP gap analysis gross-margin scenarios | Provides the main national benchmark figures for grain, biomass and dual-purpose production. | Medium for indicative budget structure; Low to Medium for local financial value. |
| AgriFutures BMP manual | Provides farmgate cost categories, agronomy and harvest/post-harvest checklist items. | Medium to High for checklist use; Low for local profitability. |
| Economic confidence review | Prioritises which product pathways justify primary validation based on public economic signals. | Medium for research prioritisation; Low for profitability. |
| Historic Tasmanian enterprise profile and AHC costing guidance | Provide old Australian seed-price/yield/cost comparators and a practical cost-category checklist. | Medium for budget structure; Low for current Granite Borders values. |
| Stanthorpe Industrial Hemp Variety Trial summary | Provides a local yield signal for grain and biomass under trial conditions. | Medium for local production signal; Low until converted into farm economics. |
| Supply-chain actor scan | Identifies possible processor, buyer and wholesale pathways. | Medium for pathway leads; Low for buying capacity and terms. |
| Regulatory and food-standard scan | Identifies lawful product boundaries and compliance obligations. | High for legal pathway definition; Medium for dollar-cost impact. |
Pathway-Level Rough Economic Screen
| Pathway | Indicative revenue unit | Current rough figure or benchmark | Main cost categories to populate | Current economic interpretation | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain / seed food | Dollars per tonne of cleaned seed; dollars per hectare gross margin. | AgriFutures scenario uses 1.3 t/ha grain at $2,500/t and reports about $600/ha operating result, or $750/ha if 3 t/ha straw is baled and sold. Historic Tasmanian material reported about 1 t/ha clean dried seed at about $3.50/kg and about $1,290/ha indicative gross margin. Stanthorpe trial summary reported highest grain yield of 1.22 t/ha for Excalibur under trial conditions. | Seed, licence and compliance, establishment, fertiliser, chemicals, irrigation or water, harvest, drying, cleaning, THC/QA testing, storage, cartage, freight to buyer, downgrade/rejection risk. | Most immediately testable pathway because lawful food and domestic processor pathways exist, but farm-gate price, buyer specifications and local post-harvest costs remain unverified. | Medium for primary-research priority; Low to Medium for economics. |
| Seed oil / protein / flour / hearts | Dollars per tonne of seed delivered to processor; possible toll-processing margin if grower retains product. | No verified Granite Borders processor price. Existing evidence identifies Australian processors and wholesale channels, but not purchasing terms. | Food-grade seed quality, drying and cleaning, processor intake fees or purchase price, food safety and residue requirements, freight, packaging or toll-processing if applicable, co-product value. | Should be treated as an extension of the grain pathway until processor terms show whether growers sell seed, pay for processing or participate in branded/wholesale products. | Low. |
| Planting seed | Dollars per tonne or dollars per kilogram of certified/approved planting seed; potentially higher value but specialist. | No rough price currently evidenced for Granite Borders. Mara Seeds and Hemp Farms Australia are identified seed/genetics actors. | Licensing category, varietal rights, seed certification, isolation, purity, germination testing, THC compliance, storage, traceability, grower reputation risk. | Not a general grower pathway. It may be relevant only for specialist producers or partnered seed programs. | Low. |
| Fibre / bast | Dollars per tonne of baled straw or processed fibre; dollars per hectare gross margin. | AgriFutures biomass Scenario 1 reports about $46/ha if biomass is effectively a baled-straw pathway. Scenario 2 improves only where refined hurd/fibre value can be captured after processing. ABF/WITS evidence confirms hemp-specific fibre trade codes and a 2024 Australian export signal to the United States, but not local demand. | Fibre variety, harvest equipment, cutting and windrowing, retting, baling, storage, moisture management, freight, decortication, fibre grading, processor fees, co-product markets. | High supply-chain dependence. Without nearby processing or firm offtake, baled biomass value appears weak in the national scaffold. | Low. |
| Hurd / hempcrete / building materials | Dollars per tonne of hurd, dollars per cubic metre of building-material input, or project-based supply value. | AgriFutures Scenario 2 for biomass reports about $1,426/ha where refined hurd/fibre/trash value can be captured; dual-purpose Scenario 2 reports about $1,855/ha. The source cautions that processing assumptions are critical. | Decortication, hurd grading, binder/system compatibility, construction-grade consistency, certification/standards, freight, storage, project pipeline, rejected material, co-product markets. | Potential upside is mainly beyond-farm-gate and depends on processing, product standards and real building-material demand. It should not be treated as a grower return unless value-capture terms are confirmed. | Low. |
| Dual-purpose grain plus biomass | Dollars per hectare from grain plus straw or refined biomass products. | AgriFutures scenario uses 0.8 t/ha grain plus 8 t/ha straw. Scenario 1 reports about $135/ha; Scenario 2 reports about $1,855/ha where refined biomass value is captured. | Grain harvest plus biomass harvest, timing trade-offs, drying, cleaning, retting/baling, storage, compliance, freight, processor access, quality compromise between grain and biomass. | Looks attractive only under assumptions where both grain and refined biomass value are accessible. It may also be the most operationally complex pathway. | Low to Medium for budget structure; Low for local viability. |
| Biomass / panels / packaging / composites | Dollars per tonne of accepted feedstock; dollars per hectare after processing and offtake. | No verified Granite Borders figure. AgriFutures biomass figures can be used only as a starting sensitivity scaffold. | Feedstock specification, processing technology, capital or toll-processing cost, minimum throughput, seasonality, freight, co-products, committed manufacturers or buyers. | Plausible but not sufficiently evidenced as a specific Granite Borders pathway. Treat as a hold category until a named processor and product economics are verified. | Unknown to Low. |
| Animal bedding, horticulture and lower-specification hurd uses | Dollars per tonne of hurd, fines or lower-specification biomass. | No verified local price. Supply-chain scan identifies product-channel leads but not buying terms. | Decortication, grading, dust/fines handling, packaging, freight, storage, retail/wholesale margin, buyer specifications. | May help absorb co-products but should not be used to rescue a fibre or hurd budget unless volumes and prices are verified. | Low. |
| Cannabinoid, flower or medicinal cannabis pathways | Not applicable under current industrial hemp scope. | Excluded from ordinary industrial hemp opportunity assessment. | Not applicable unless project scope is formally changed. | Do not use cannabinoid retail prices or medicinal-cannabis economics in this business case. | Not applicable. |
Minimum Financial Figures To Populate
Future economic scenarios should collect or estimate the following figures for each active pathway.
| Figure | Unit | Why it matters | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Realistic local yield | t/ha or kg/ha | Drives revenue and harvest/post-harvest cost. | Partly evidenced by national AgriFutures assumptions and Stanthorpe trial yield signals; not yet local farm-verified. |
| Farm-gate or delivered price | $/t or $/kg | Determines whether the pathway is commercially meaningful. | Unverified for Granite Borders. |
| Buyer specification | Moisture, purity, THC, protein/oil/fibre grade, contamination limits | Determines whether crop can actually be sold at the assumed price. | Mostly unverified. |
| Minimum accepted volume | tonnes, hectares or truckloads | Determines whether small regional trials or fragmented production can access the market. | Unverified. |
| Freight distance and cost | km and $/t | Critical for bulky fibre, hurd and biomass pathways. | Distances can be mapped; prices not yet verified. |
| Cleaning, drying and storage cost | $/t or $/ha | Critical for food-grade seed and quality retention. | Not locally verified. |
| Processing or toll-processing fee | $/t | Determines whether processed-product value can be captured by growers or only by processors. | Only national rough assumptions currently available. |
| Compliance and testing cost | $/ha, $/crop or $/sample | Licensing, testing and record keeping affect small-scale economics. | Legal obligations evidenced; actual dollar burden not yet verified. |
| Harvest and contractor cost | $/ha or $/t | Hemp may require timing, machinery and post-harvest handling not common to all local farms. | Not locally verified. |
| Water and irrigation cost | ML/ha and $/ML | Critical for comparing irrigated hemp with existing enterprises. | Agronomy need evidenced; local enterprise water assumptions not built. |
| Downgrade or rejection rate | percentage of production | Determines downside risk. | Unknown. |
| Co-product value | $/t by co-product | Fibre/hurd budgets may depend on selling multiple fractions. | Mostly unverified. |
| Working capital timing | months from planting to payment | Affects producer cashflow and risk appetite. | Unknown. |
Suggested Scenario Structure
Use three cases for each pathway rather than a single point estimate.
| Scenario | Purpose | Indicative treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Tests downside exposure. | Lower yield, lower price, higher freight, no co-product value unless contracted, full compliance and post-harvest costs, downgrade/rejection allowance. |
| Base | Tests a realistic planning case. | Local agronomist yield estimate, written buyer specification, current freight quote, normal compliance and storage costs, only evidenced co-products included. |
| Upside | Tests plausible opportunity ceiling. | Better yield, stronger price, confirmed processor access, co-products sold, lower unit freight through aggregation, but no unsupported retail-price assumptions. |
For biomass, fibre and hurd pathways, Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 should be kept separate:
- Scenario 1: farm sells baled straw or biomass with limited value capture.
- Scenario 2: grower or regional supply chain captures refined hurd, fibre or co-product value after processing.
The AgriFutures figures show that this distinction can change apparent returns materially. It is therefore a key validation issue, not a spreadsheet detail.
Draft Granite Borders Budget Fields
| Budget field | Grain / seed food | Oil / protein / hearts | Fibre / bast | Hurd / building materials | Dual-purpose | Biomass / composites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product sold | Clean seed | Seed or processed ingredient | Baled straw or fibre | Baled straw, hurd or building-grade material | Seed plus straw/fibre/hurd | Biomass feedstock |
| Revenue unit | $/t seed | $/t seed or ingredient margin | $/t straw or fibre | $/t hurd or project supply | $/t seed plus $/t straw or hurd/fibre | $/t accepted biomass |
| First yield input | t/ha seed | t/ha seed | t/ha straw/fibre | t/ha straw and hurd yield | t/ha seed and t/ha straw | t/ha biomass |
| Most important local cost | Drying, cleaning and freight | Processing/intake terms | Harvest, retting, baling and freight | Decortication and product-grade consistency | Operational complexity and processor access | Processing and committed offtake |
| Main go/no-go evidence | Written buyer price and specs | Processor terms and capacity | Processor within economic freight range | Processor plus project/buyer demand | Both grain and biomass offtake | Named buyer and throughput economics |
| Current rough-guide status | Build first | Build after grain buyer terms | Hold pending processor map | Hold pending processor and buyer validation | Model only after single pathways are understood | Hold pending named product and buyer |
Perspective Implications
| Finding | Producer | Supply Chain | GBLC | Environment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed/grain economics are the most practical first budget to build because the pathway has lawful food uses and identifiable Australian processors. | Possible | Possible | Relevant | Neutral |
| The economic-confidence review supports primary validation of grain and seed-food pathways now, while holding fibre/hurd/biomass pathways to a named-processor test. | Possible | Possible | Relevant | Neutral |
| Fibre, hurd and biomass returns are highly sensitive to processing access, freight and value capture after decortication. | Risk | Risk | Relevant | Neutral |
| Scenario 2 biomass and dual-purpose returns should not be treated as farm-gate returns unless the grower can access refined-product value. | Risk | Risk | Relevant | Neutral |
| Planting seed is potentially specialist and should not be treated as a generic producer opportunity. | Risk | Possible specialist pathway | Relevant | Neutral |
| Environmental product benefits such as building-material carbon storage require separate economic and supply-chain validation. | Neutral | Relevant | Relevant | Possible |
Immediate Data Collection Priorities
The rough guide points to the following priority figures for targeted gap closure or Phase 3 primary research:
- Buyer price ranges for food-grade hemp seed delivered from Granite Borders-relevant locations.
- Processor intake specifications for grain, seed oil, protein, hearts, fibre, hurd and biomass.
- Processor locations, capacity, toll-processing fees, minimum lots and intake windows.
- Freight quotes from Tenterfield, Stanthorpe and Applethorpe to candidate processors.
- Local drying, cleaning, storage and testing costs for food-grade seed.
- Harvest contractor availability and costs for grain, fibre and dual-purpose systems.
- Actual compliance time and testing costs under NSW and Queensland licensing.
- Whether any fibre/hurd buyer would pay for baled straw, processed hurd/fibre or only finished products.
- Whether co-products can be sold at meaningful volumes and prices.
- Comparable returns from existing regional enterprises for the same land, water and management capacity.
Working Conclusion
The current secondary evidence is sufficient to build pathway-specific financial templates, but not sufficient to populate a reliable Granite Borders industrial hemp business case.
The next economic step should be a pathway-by-pathway sensitivity model starting with grain / seed food, because that pathway has the clearest legal basis and the most identifiable Australian processing and wholesale leads. Fibre, hurd, building-material and biomass pathways should remain under review but should not be promoted economically until processor access, freight-adjusted returns and buyer demand are verified.