Less spin. More fibre (and oil, biochar, carbon credits...).
At last week’s APPG for Hemp Carbon Capture & Rural Development meeting, the message was clear: the world, including the U.S., doesn’t need another hemp wonder-crop white paper. It needs a physical pilot.
A real-world demonstration of how an interconnected, circular economy-driven hemp industry can drive jobs, investment and decarbonisation at scale.
Here in the UK, we are ready to deliver. Because so much of the ground work has already been done. So many of the businesses already exist. Some are finding life easier than others, but together they're ready to take up the baton. We just need the political will to put the missing pieces into place.
Here’s what the existing framework (with a by-no-means exhaustive list of examples) looks like:
- Seeds. Businesses like Elsoms Seeds Ltd, and institutions like Aberystwyth University, are developing and delivering UK-bred cultivars to supply farmers with viable, high-yield varieties.
- Farming. British growers are ready to integrate hemp into crop rotations to regenerate soil and capture carbon. Of course, some farms are already doing so. Farms like East Yorkshire Hemp, and GUITING MANOR FARMS LIMITED in the Cotswolds, are leading the way.
- Processing. Companies like Scotland's IndiNature, and Fibra Crop Solutions Ltd in Gloucestershire are collaborating with local growers, scaling natural fibre insulation, composites and other applications. Also Unyte Group of course.
- Construction. HEMSPAN Ltd’s Rochford Park is set to deliver 2,000 climate-positive homes with full political backing. And they're not alone, GRWN Group on the Isle of White and Wellspring Homes in Wales have both appeared in recent years. And of course, the business that set the ball rolling, Greencore Homes
- Manufacturing. Businesses like Harrison Spinks (bedmakers but also one of the UK's largest growers) have been proving that manufacturing with hemp is both productive and profitable.
- Energy. Companies such as Rare Earth Global are successfully exploring hemp for the production of batteries, bio-plastics and a host of other uses.
The list goes on. And will grow too. Sustainable aviation fuel (London Southend Airport, can we talk?). Marine bio-fuel. Hemp Carbon Credits. Please feel free to add your business in the comments below.
But, spoiler alert, we cannot unlock any of this without two things:
- Banking
- Insurance
And they do not exist for hemp at scale in the UK yet. The blocker? The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). It still treats legally earned hemp revenues from abroad as criminal property. As a result, UK banks and insurers won’t engage. That must change.
If we were to dedicate just 5 percent of UK farmland to hemp crop rotation, the UK could generate £720 million in new annual income and over 13,000 skilled rural jobs.
The opportunity is real. The coalition exists. Let the UK be the pilot.
hashtag#industrialhemp hashtag#ukconstruction hashtag#carbon
