Marty McCarthy of ABC (the Australian version) reports Stuart Larssons, a soybean grower at Mallanganee in northern New South Wales, wants to produce hemp milk.

“If you’ve tasted hemp milk it’s a lovely mild product to drink, high in omega sixes and threes, all the good things in there,” Mr Larssons said.

Hemp is a species of cannabis although, unlike marijuana, it has low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Hemp milk is made by crushing the seeds and mixing them with water.

The milk is already sold overseas, although it cannot be sold legally as a food product in Australia yet.

In 2015 food and health ministers in Australia and New Zealand rejected an application by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to permit the sale of foods made from low-THC hemp seeds.

Authorities were worried about the impact eating or drinking hemp products may have on roadside drug testing.

They also thought legalising hemp seed products would send a confusing message about the safety of its controversial cousin, cannabis.

Commonwealth, state, territory and New Zealand food ministers have asked FSANZ to address these information gaps, and then work on a proposal that would reconsider low-THC hemp being legally designated as a food.

If they do, Mr Larssons, who made a name for himself in the soy milk market, is keen to replicate that success in the hemp milk market.

“It’s like anything new, it has got to be tested and proven there’s nothing wrong with the product, so we’ve just got to wait for what the food authorities say,” he said.