RICHARD FRIAR loves growing dope. His backyard on the northern beaches is full of the stuff - 500 plants, to be precise.

But Mr Friar is no dealer, and this is no underground plantation. The 66-year-old and his wife, Wendy, are the proud owners of Australia's first licensed industrial hemp crop to be grown in an urban area.

Rolling in it ... Richard Friar with some of the 500 hemp plants at his northern beaches plantation. He is part of a pilot project to commercialise the harvest. Credit:Steven Siewert

"I'd prefer you didn't publish exactly where we are," he says.

"Even though this is no good for smoking, you can imagine what would happen if people found out."