Industrial hemp as a UK arable break-crop

[Hugh W]

Hi,

I am a 30-year-old 'under-manager' working on my family's farm in Northumberland, whilst studying an MSc with the SRUC, Aberdeen. The final project (thesis) of the MSc is entitled:

“A feasibility study on the large scale re-introduction of industrial Hemp, as an arable break-crop, in the UK”

As part of this I'd like to invite any UK farmers (arable and mixed) to take part in a survey about your business and your views on industrial hemp as a potential break-crop.
I'm very happy to give more info should anyone want it.

Below is a link to the online survey, there are 21 questions and it should only take 5 minutes to complete.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GSVPJJP

I'd really appreciate if any farmers who come across this would take part and also feel free to share the link with friends or associates.

Hugh

 

[Brisel]

Have a chat with @Daniel Larn

 

[Daniel Larn]

Have a chat with @Daniel Larn

Thanks again @Brisel!

I will drop you a PM Hugh, I may be able to put you in touch with some folk who you may find interesting.

 

[Hugh W]

Just an update: The survey is receiving plenty of responses from farmers in Scotland and responses from England are trickling in gradually. But could very much do with some input from farmers in Wales and N.Ireland…. does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Brisel]

The occasional post in here will keep it higher up the list in the forum. There’s a pretty eclectic mix of members from a very wide range of locations. If you look at the top of your screen there’s a members section with a map for those that have bothered to put their rough location in their profile.

 

[Exfarmer]

It was tried 20 years ago,a fair acreagewas drilled in the Breckland area. Trouble was only real market was for horse bedding . Think a lot of growers never got paid.
One neighbour passing a road side crop late at night saw some locallads filling their car with it, thinkng it was cannabis

 

[Hugh W]

The occasional post in here will keep it higher up the list in the forum. There’s a pretty eclectic mix of members from a very wide range of locations. If you look at the top of your screen there’s a members section with a map for those that have bothered to put their rough location in their profile.

Thanks! I'll check the members section.

 

[Hugh W]

It was tried 20 years ago,a fair acreagewas drilled in the Breckland area. Trouble was only real market was for horse bedding . Think a lot of growers never got paid.
One neighbour passing a road side crop late at night saw some locallads filling their car with it, thinkng it was cannabis

That's interesting, the data does show there was around 2500ha grown in the UK in the late 90's and early 00's, then it gradually tailed off to less than 800ha in recent data. In contrast France grow well over 15000ha and Estonia have gone from almost nothing in 2015 to over 5000ha in 2017. There are some strong and diversified markets out there. The Italian hemp market is quite interesting as well.

 

[Hugh W]

Hi,

I am a 30-year-old 'under-manager' working on my family's farm in Northumberland, whilst studying an MSc with the SRUC, Aberdeen. The final project (thesis) of the MSc is entitled:

“A feasibility study on the large scale re-introduction of industrial Hemp, as an arable break-crop, in the UK”

As part of this I'd like to invite any UK farmers (arable and mixed) to take part in a survey about your business and your views on industrial hemp as a potential break-crop.
I'm very happy to give more info should anyone want it.

Below is a link to the online survey, there are 21 questions and it should only take 5 minutes to complete.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GSVPJJP

I'd really appreciate if any farmers who come across this would take part and also feel free to share the link with friends or associates.

Hugh

Just to keep the survey link going....

 

[Daniel Larn]

The occasional post in here will keep it higher up the list in the forum. There’s a pretty eclectic mix of members from a very wide range of locations. If you look at the top of your screen there’s a members section with a map for those that have bothered to put their rough location in their profile.

I think the map is dead now, I can't seem to find it. Shame, it was damned useful.

 

[Hugh W]

I think the map is dead now, I can't seem to find it. Shame, it was damned useful.

Yes, doesn't seem to be available. @Brisel do you know if it is still accessible?

Any UK farmers new to the thread, please take part in the survey using the link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GSVPJJP

I'm concerned some people are thinking the 'poll' is the survey. The poll is just out of interest, the survey monkey data will be used in the MSc project.

Could still do with responses from farmers in Wales, N.Ireland and England.

 

[An Gof]

Hi,

I am a 30-year-old 'under-manager' working on my family's farm in Northumberland, whilst studying an MSc with the SRUC, Aberdeen. The final project (thesis) of the MSc is entitled:

“A feasibility study on the large scale re-introduction of industrial Hemp, as an arable break-crop, in the UK”

As part of this I'd like to invite any UK farmers (arable and mixed) to take part in a survey about your business and your views on industrial hemp as a potential break-crop.
I'm very happy to give more info should anyone want it.

Below is a link to the online survey, there are 21 questions and it should only take 5 minutes to complete.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GSVPJJP

I'd really appreciate if any farmers who come across this would take part and also feel free to share the link with friends or associates.

Hugh

Think you first need to sort out the licensing from the Home Office. I think regulations changed and licence fees increased making it very difficult. It has all been done before with limited success. Google Hemcore for more information.

PS How are you proposing to harvest it?

 

[Hugh W]

Think you first need to sort out the licensing from the Home Office. I think regulations changed and licence fees increased making it very difficult. It has all been done before with limited success. Google Hemcore for more information.

PS How are you proposing to harvest it?

The licensing appears to be quite straight forward and not expensive (for low-THC). The problem may be that the leaves and flowers cannot be used under a low-THC license, limiting the crops potential. I realise there have been issues in the past with the crop, markets, varieties, equipment and processing have since evolved though.

I'm not proposing anything, I am just doing a study on the current feasibility for cultivating the crop in the UK, which will of course include an analysis of the issues. It may well be that the study shows it is not feasible. Until the survey data is gathered and analysed it is an unknown. The survey proposed here is just 1 of 5 market analysis techniques being used in the study.

In terms of harvesting however, the last 20 years have seen significant development in Europe. Particularly in varietal breeding (shorter crops for example) and machinery development.

 

[Exfarmer]

It was promoted last time as a crop which would grow well on very poor land with limited water. Further it flourished with little or no herbicide.
The problem soon became apparent that their is little or no market for the fibre, possibly because , industrial harvesting methods ( using a modified forage harvester) resulted in a short fibre length. The only real market was the previously waste core of the stem , which is a very good bedding material, due to its absorbency properties.
Even with BMW incorporating the fibre in body parts for its car , as a form of green glass fibre, the market never really got going. The lack of processing plants in the UK did not help either.
Interestingly France is Europes lesding producer of hemp, 70 of this production is used for making cigarette paper!

 

[Hugh W]

It was promoted last time as a crop which would grow well on very poor land with limited water. Further it flourished with little or no herbicide.
The problem soon became apparent that their is little or no market for the fibre, possibly because , industrial harvesting methods ( using a modified forage harvester) resulted in a short fibre length. The only real market was the previously waste core of the stem , which is a very good bedding material, due to its absorbency properties.
Even with BMW incorporating the fibre in body parts for its car , as a form of green glass fibre, the market never really got going. The lack of processing plants in the UK did not help either.
Interestingly France is Europes lesding producer of hemp, 70 of this production is used for making cigarette paper!

Was 'last time' 20 years ago? You are right about the issue with short fibre lengths, the lack of fibre processing in the UK and the stagnation in the natural fibre composite market, which is largely due to synthetic alternatives and the wider use of flax. However, German automotive companies in particular are still using hemp fibre composites. Also, as the synthetic plastic industry comes under increasing pressure, expect the use of natural alternatives to increase. The UK has a massive plastics industry.
France have certainly dominated fibre production in Europe, but the pulp and paper market is gradually losing ground to biocomposites and insulation. And countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Italy are quickly catching up, mainly due to a massive increase in demand for hemp seed food products, oils and CBD. Canada also produce a huge amount of hemp seed relative to fibre.

The European market is generally looking promising, since a low in 2011, cultivation area is increasing year-on-year and is now exceeding 40,000 ha.

 

[fastfish]

I think there is a company in Barnstaple Braham and Murray good hemp that extract oil from the seed but I don’t think they do anything with the straw they grow it themselves

 

[Hugh W]

I think there is a company in Barnstaple Braham and Murray good hemp that extract oil from the seed but I don’t think they do anything with the straw they grow it themselves

Thanks. Yes they produce hemp milk, oil, seeds ands protein supplement. The Good hemp website is great for info. I have only tried their milk but was very impressed by the taste, it's in Sainsburys and Waitrose.

 

[Hugh W]

Hi all, just an update:

The hemp survey will be closed on Monday 11th March. The survey is aimed at all farmers (arable/mixed) in the UK who do not currently grow hemp.

If you haven't yet done so, and would like to contribute, please do take a few minutes to complete the survey, and share it with other farmers you know.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GSVPJJP

This is part of an MSc thesis, with the SRUC, Aberdeen.
I will be happy to discuss the survey and project on the whole with anyone who is interested to know more.

Best regards
Hugh

 

[hughwra]

The study was completed and the results can be read in the MSc dissertation here: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/99d8e3c1/files/uploaded/MSc_Industrial-Hemp_Public.pdf

Thanks everyone