By Mark TurnerPrecision Plants is delighted to announce that Nick Voase, Director of East Yorkshire Hemp, has joined our advisory board. Nick is one of the United Kingdom's most experienced commercial hemp farmers, having cultivated and processed industrial hemp at scale for over two decades. His appointment brings invaluable practical expertise to our team as we advance the development and commercialisation of precision-bred hemp varieties through our Stackatrait™ technology platform.
A Bridge Between Lab and Field
Nick's 24 years of commercial hemp experience—from seed sourcing and cultivation through to processing and product development—provides Precision Plants with a direct line to the practical realities of large-scale UK hemp farming. His insight will be instrumental in ensuring our precision-bred varieties meet the real-world demands of commercial growers.
Who Is Nick Voase?
Nick Voase is a third-generation farmer from East Yorkshire whose family has worked the land at Baswick Steer since his grandfather Ken moved there in 1943. Nick made the pioneering decision to begin growing industrial hemp in 2002, making him one of the earliest adopters of commercial hemp cultivation in the United Kingdom. By 2007, following the devastating East Yorkshire floods that destroyed his potato crop, Nick committed fully to hemp—a decision that has since proven both commercially astute and environmentally progressive.
Over the past 24 years, Nick has built East Yorkshire Hemp into one of the UK's most established and vertically integrated hemp operations. His expertise spans the entire hemp value chain: from seed sourcing and agronomy through to harvesting, processing, and product development. Notably, Nick has designed and built custom hemp harvesting and processing machinery—a testament to his deep understanding of the practical challenges facing UK hemp growers.
East Yorkshire Hemp: A UK Pioneer
Operating under the family business K J Voase and Son, East Yorkshire Hemp grows up to 500 acres of industrial hemp each year across the rolling farmland of the East Riding. The operation is involved in every aspect of the hemp supply chain—from sourcing certified seed and managing large-scale cultivation through to processing raw hemp into finished commercial products.
The company has developed four distinct product lines, each addressing a different market within the growing UK hemp economy:
HempBedz
Premium hemp animal bedding made from the woody core (shiv) of the hemp stalk. Highly absorbent, low-dust, and compostable—used by equestrian centres, poultry farms, and smallholders across the UK.
HempBuild
Hempcrete building products for sustainable construction. Hemp shiv mixed with lime creates a breathable, carbon-negative insulation material increasingly specified by eco-builders and architects.
HempLogz
Compressed hemp briquettes for biomass heating. A renewable alternative to traditional fuel logs, produced from hemp processing by-products with minimal waste.
Hemp Fibre
Raw and processed hemp fibre for industrial applications including textiles, composites, and automotive components. Nick built and adapted custom machinery to separate the woody core from the bast fibre.
His Role on Our Advisory Board
As an advisory board member, Nick will provide strategic guidance across several critical areas of Precision Plants' development programme. His role focuses on bridging the gap between laboratory-based precision breeding research and the practical demands of commercial-scale hemp farming in UK conditions.
Specifically, Nick will advise on variety performance criteria from a commercial grower's perspective—ensuring that our Stackatrait™ varieties are optimised not only for genetic traits but also for real-world agronomic performance, harvestability, and processing suitability. His experience managing 500 acres of hemp annually provides an unmatched understanding of what commercial growers need from new varieties.
Nick will also contribute to our commercialisation strategy, drawing on his established relationships across the UK hemp supply chain—from seed merchants and contract growers to processors and end-product manufacturers. His vertically integrated operation at East Yorkshire Hemp serves as a practical model for the kind of value chains our precision-bred varieties will enter.
Commercial Hemp Expertise
Nick's expertise is distinguished by its breadth and depth across the entire hemp value chain. Unlike many in the sector who specialise in either cultivation or processing, Nick has built integrated capabilities spanning both. This end-to-end perspective is particularly valuable for Precision Plants as we develop varieties intended to deliver improvements across multiple trait categories simultaneously.
From Seed to Shelf
Nick's unique position as both grower and processor means he understands precisely how genetic traits translate into commercial outcomes. A variety that performs well in controlled trials must also harvest cleanly, process efficiently, and yield products that meet market specifications. This is the practical knowledge Nick brings to our advisory board.
His decision to design and build custom hemp harvesting equipment underscores a critical point: the UK hemp industry lacks the mature infrastructure available to established arable crops. Growers must often adapt or invent solutions. Nick's engineering approach to these challenges—combined with his agronomic knowledge—provides Precision Plants with insight into the practical barriers and opportunities that will shape adoption of our new varieties.
Strategic Value for Precision Plants
Nick's appointment addresses a strategic priority for Precision Plants: ensuring that our precision breeding programme is informed by commercial reality from the earliest stages of variety development. As we advance our three initial varieties—BritGrain, LongLine, and YieldMax—through the regulatory pathway established by the Precision Breeding Act 2023, Nick's guidance will help ensure these varieties are optimised for commercial adoption.
His 500-acre operation also represents a potential early-adoption and demonstration site for our precision-bred varieties. East Yorkshire Hemp's established infrastructure—including custom processing equipment and established market channels—could provide an ideal environment for commercial-scale validation of Stackatrait™ varieties before broader market launch.
Furthermore, Nick's deep roots in the UK farming community provide Precision Plants with credibility and trust among the grower base we ultimately serve. His endorsement carries weight with practical farmers who value proven, hands-on experience over theoretical claims.
A Growing Advisory Board
Nick joins an advisory board that combines scientific, regulatory, and commercial expertise. Our existing advisors include specialists in plant genetics, agricultural policy, and business development. Nick's appointment adds a critical dimension of operational hemp farming expertise that complements and strengthens the board's collective capability.
The advisory board now comprises individuals with expertise spanning precision breeding science, UK agricultural regulation, commercial hemp cultivation and processing, sustainable materials markets, and early-stage venture development. This breadth of knowledge ensures that Precision Plants' strategy is informed by multiple perspectives and grounded in practical reality.
Meet Our Full Team
Visit our Team page to learn more about our founders, research team, and advisory board members. Each brings distinct expertise to our mission of developing climate-resilient, THC-compliant hemp varieties for UK agriculture.
We are confident that Nick's unparalleled commercial hemp experience will prove invaluable as Precision Plants moves from research and development into field trials and commercialisation. His appointment reflects our commitment to building a company that is as grounded in farming practice as it is in cutting-edge science.
For more information about investment opportunities in Precision Plants, visit our Investors page. To discuss potential collaboration or learn more about our precision breeding programme, please contact us.
