Hemp Cultivation in England
Hemp Cultivation in England
The situation in England:
An estimated 5,500 acres of hemp will be grown in England in 1997. This compares to the 2,800 acres grown there in 1995.One of the largest hemp companies in England, Hemcore, is selling horse bedding made from hemp hurds. They are also working with the textile industry to develop spinning technology. (see John Dvorak article)
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Please also see http://www.motherhemp.com/cult.html
From: davewest davewest@pressenter.com
August 1st, Subject: English Hemp a Success!
To: Matthew@HempWorld.com
Hemp set to fulfill its legal
potential!
By Gary Mead
Its earliest recorded use was for fishing nets in China in 2800 BC. In the late 16th century, Elizabeth I decreed that all English farmers should grow it as it was vital for her navy. Yet in the late 20th century its possession is often a criminal offense.
Hemp, however, is making a comeback, with several companies in Europe hoping it will challenge artificial fibers. Derived from the cannabis sativa plant, hemp is extremely tough and flexible, with impeccable environmental credentials.
For industrial users, hemp had one big drawback - its flowers and leaves have gained popularity as an illegal drug, the active ingredient being tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Varieties of cannabis for smoking can have as much as 20 per cent THC content.
But thanks to a French plant-breeder who has developed low-THC varieties containing less than 0.3 percent, hemp-growing for industrial purposes is now legal in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, including the Netherlands.
As Mr. John Hobson, general manager of Hemcore, Europe’s second-biggest hemp processor, says: “You would need to smoke a huge field of our hemp to notice any effect.”
Hemcore started its business in 1993 and now has 80 UK farmers, licensed by the Home Office, under contract. The EU currently subsidizes hemp production at $260 (English Pounds) an acre, although that is likely to drop to $230 this year. The subsidy is vital to us in the short term while we research the markets for this new crop,” says Mr. Hobson.
In its first year Hemcore planted 1,500 acres and set up its decortication plant in north Essex. This year it has planted 5,400 acres.
“It’s a zero-waste process,” says Mr. Hobson. “We use all the hemp plant, from which derive two basic products - the core and the fiber. Hemcore’s average yield is about 2.5 metric tons an acre.”
The original business opportunity spotted by Hemcore’s founders was in horse bedding. Hemp’s core is highly absorbent, dust-free - important, as horses can be allergic to dust - and rots down fast.
“Its competitors are wood shavings and straw. Hemp horse bedding sells in the UK at about $7 (English Pounds) a bale, and Hemcore new produces hundreds of thousands of bales annually. We’re now selling across the UK - all the royal horses at Buckingham Palace use our bedding - as well as Belgium, France and elsewhere in Europe,” says Mr. Hobson.
But horse bedding was just a start. Hemcore is planning to double its acreage in 1998 in order to move into specialist paper-making, in particular packaging.
“The key to this is development of the markets for fiber. The only real market for that at the moment is cigarette tissue, the paper in which tobacco is rolled, and cigarette filters. But there are several European competitors in this field; there’s more fiber than the cigarette producers can take,” argues Mr. Hobson.
So Mr. Hobson also has his eye on replacing glass fiber, and is producing hemp matting of different weights and strengths.
“We see the future for this matting as a direct fiber glass replacement. To construct a part measuring one cubic meter from fiber glass you nee 2,600kg of fiber glass, costing $2 (English Pounds) a kg. Using hemp fiber you can make the same-sized part with just 1,200kg, costing $1.60 (English Pounds) a kg,” says Mr. Hobson.
Ford has recently agreed to substitute Hemcore’s matting for the fiber glass used in the parcel shelves inside its Transit van. And Hemcore may yet get high, even with THC-reduced hemp. This week a UK aircraft manufacturer said it was considering Hemcore’s matting for its fighter planes and gun turrets.
“It’s cheaper, healthier and lighter in weight,” suggests Mr. Hobson. “The commercial and environmental arguments stack up in our favor.”
Contact:
Mr. John Hobson
Hemcore, Ltd. Station Road
Felsted
Great Dunmow
Essex, England CM6 3HL
E-mail: john@hemcore.demon.co.uk
Office: +44-1371-820-066
Fax: +44-1371-820-069
Requesting a
license, plant the seed...
From: "ERIC E. SKIDMORE" 104413.3573@compuserve.com
Date: 6/21/97 13:35
Subject: UK Industrial Hemp (no problem)
To: Matthew@HempWorld.com
HOME OFFICE
SE Region Drugs Inspectorate
50 Queen Anne's Gate, London, SW1H 9AT
Date: 23 April 1997
Further to our telephone conversation on 22 April, I think it might be useful to begin by explaining briefly the role of the Home Office Drugs Branch, which has the same control function as the DEA but unlike the DEA does not have an enforcement role.
The Home Office Drugs Branch comprises the Inspectorate and Licensing Section. It is
the United Kingdom's Competent Authority for the purposes of the United Nations
Conventions on controlled drugs (UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961; UN
Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971; UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988). The Drugs Branch's strategic
objectives are:
* to enforce the statutory controls of the Misuse of Drugs Act and its regulations on the licit manufacture and distribution of controlled drugs
* to prevent diversion of licit drugs to the illicit market and to meet the United Kingdom's obligations under the United Nations drug Conventions
* to administer European Commission controls on export, import and internal trade in scheduled substances to prevent their diversion to the illicit manufacture of controlled drugs
To achieve these strategic objectives the Drugs Branch adopts an approach of fostering effective co-operation with licensed companies endeavouring to balance commercial considerations with the requirements of the law. Unlike the police, Inspectors of the Drugs Branch do not have the power to search and detain persons suspected of contravening the Misuse of Drugs Act or regulations made under that Act.
In order to grow cannabis (or hemp), a substance controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, a licence allowing its cultivation, issued by the Home Office Drugs Branch, must be obtained. In considering each application for such a licence the bona fides of the applicant and the purpose for growing hemp, together with the proposed location of the growing sites, are taken into account.
In the cases of farmers wishing to grow hemp for commercial purposes, the proposed sites are visited by an Inspector from the Drugs Branch, who will ensure the fields are situated where there is poor public access and visibility of the crop. Where minor roads abut the growing site vehicular access to the field should not be possible, for example blocked using straw bales. In some cases screening crops or other security measures may be necessary. The seed sown must be European Union approved, ie containing not more than 0.3% Tetra Hydra Cannabinol (THC), so low that it does not produce any noticeable euphoric effect.
Since licenced hemp cultivation by farmers began in 1993, there have been very few thefts of crop and diversion from licit sources has been insignificant. In 1996, when some 4,000 acres were grown here under licence, there was only one incident where large-scale theft took place. The offenders were arrested before the hemp reached the illicit market. Once the licence has been issued there is little necessity to visit the site again during the growing period unless any problems are reported.
I hope that you find this information useful. There is little else of relevance I can find to post to you but if you require any further help or advice please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Mr Gerrard (0171 273 3530).
Yours sincerely,
Miss Wendy Nevill
Drugs Inspector
Hemcore Limited is growing Hemp in England. HCF spoke with John Hobson after he spoke at the Commercial & Industrial Hemp Symposium in Vancouver, Feb.’97. Awaiting Hemcore's internet connection. I have an e-mail address that is said to belong to John Hobson but he has not given HempCyberFarm any response to date! You can five it a try!
Hemcore Limited,
John Hobson, General Manager
Station Road
Felsted
Great Dunmow
Essex CM6 3HL
E-mail: john@hemcore.demon.co.uk
Website?
Phone: 01371-820066
Fax: 01371-820069
Subscription price for the Journal of the International Hemp Association
$50 per year, is low compared to the quality, wealth and breadth of information. An
excerpt of one of IHA’s Journals follows below. Judge for yourself.
The scientific Hemp community and mother earth would also appreciate a donation to the Vavilov Project initiated by IHA to save the World’s last remaining gene pool of this most valuable plant. Think about what you can do to help stop de-forestation, hunger, pollution, ozone layer, etc. In my opinion this is the most cost effective way to help our Planet heal and de-toxify ourselves. Your money will be used 100% for growing Hemp by non-profit organizations. What other earthsaving organization can make this kind of statement? (p.s. if you want to brush up on your gene pool knowledge click here!)
International Hemp Association Organization:
David P. Watson, Chairman
David W. Pate, Secretary
Robert C. Clarke, Projects Manager
Hayo van der Werf, Editor in Chief
Irene Bijl Treasurer
With contributions from various other Hemp experts around the World.
The UK hemp project in 1993
Ian Low
Director, Hemcore Ltd., Station Road, Felsted, Essex
CM6 3HL, United Kingdom
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pulling, retting, grassing, breaking, scutching and hackling were going on in East Anglia in Elizabethan times. There was even a law which enforced hemp growing on pain of a fine. The hemp produced was quite coarse and was used for smocks, sheets, bolsters, fishing nets and rope. All over the area there are village names to remind us of the long hemp growing tradition such as Hempstead, Heckfield and Bleach Green. So in 1993 when Hemcore was formed by two East Anglian businesses to redevelop the hemp crop in the area, we were treading a well-worn path, albeit one that hadn't been walked for 50 years.
The reasoning behind our move into hemp production involved a common mixture of circumstances and opportunities, in detail:
Market Openings: for the fibre into paper and textiles, for the core of the plant as livestock bedding, for the seed as fishing bait and bird seed.
Growing Opportunities: with farmers looking for alternative crops to remove the pressure from over production in most of the main arable crop markets.
Environmental Benefits: which were commonly seen as coming from hemp cultivation, both in the growing crop and in the replacement of synthetic or imported products in the market place.
The project
In 1992 my partner Robert Lukies and myself set up a trials programme covering as many
different varieties of hemp as we could obtain. These trials were taken through to harvest
at Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex and the resulting plants were trial processed.
Following the successful outcome of these trials, a decision was made to go ahead with a commercial venture. An application was made to the British Home Office for a licence to grow 600 ha (1,500 acres) of hemp in 1993. After considerable discussion a licence was granted on February 18, 1993, and our plans went into action for establishing a new U.K. hemp industry.
In March 1993, Hemcore Ltd. was formed. It is owned by Harlow Agricultural Merchants, a large East Anglian Merchanting Company and Robert Lukies, who farms and runs a seed processing business in Essex. During March and April, 30 growers were chosen and sites were approved by the Home Office.
The growing crop
Drilling took place during the first week of May at approximately 50 kg/ha of seed,
drilled 2-3 cm deep on 10-18 cm row widths. We found it important to obtain as fine as
possible a seed bed with minimum compaction and used conventional cereal drills for
sowing. No agricultural chemicals were used in the growing of the crop, but we did find it
very responsive to fertilizer. We used fertilizer rates of about 120 kg/ha of nitrogen,
100 kg/ha of phosphate and 160 kg/ha of potash.
The impressive growth rate of the hemp crop is already well known and our crops certainly lived up to expectations, average heights reached were 3 metres with some up to 3.5 m. Maximum heights were reached in early to mid August. There were noticeable plant losses between establishment and full growth, with final plant populations ending at around 180 per metre square.
In July and August, a number of incidents occurred where people stole cuttings of our contract crops. It is extremely doubtful whether they were rewarded for their troubles, but they were certainly of considerable nuisance value and caused the authorities some concern. One particularly troubled crop was harvested in early August to get it out of the way, otherwise harvesting did not begin until September.
The harvest
September and early October were very wet in East Anglia in 1993. This proved a
considerable test of our pioneering harvest plans. Whilst we tried different machines and
methods, the mainstay of our operation hinged on a modified rape swather and John Deere
Round Balers. We are particularly grateful to the latter company for their wholehearted
support. Although weather conditions delayed a large proportion of the baling until mid
October, we were delighted by the condition of the crop, and in the end every hectare of
every field was cleared. Following such a steep learning curve, we intend to put into
practice for the '94 harvest a number of new plans that give us a lot of confidence for
the long-term future of hemp production.
The market
I will not go into detail on processing, as a large amount of what we are doing is at the
prototype stage and all of it is confidential. Suffice to say that we have at the moment
two products coming out of the factory, fibre from the stem sheath for paper and possibly
for the textile trade, and the core of the stem which is going into the livestock bedding
market. Both products have created a lot of interest and there seems at the moment to be
good demand.
Summary
1993 was a year of considerable achievement for Hemcore. The ripples from what we have
done have gone round the world. We succeeded in a difficult year to grow and harvest 600
hectares of hemp and we will build on this in 1994. We have continued to do extensive
variety and agronomic trials and these too will be extended this year. Processing caused
us many more problems than we originally envisaged. Marketing will also present a
challenge as the present volumes are only satisfying a small niche market. We have made it
clear from the outset that Hemcore's philosophy, unlike that of much of the agricultural
world, will be to satisfy market leads, not to be output driven.
Review
Bioregional Fibres
Potential for a sustainable regional paper and textile industry based on flax and hemp. __________________________________________________________________________________________
By S. Riddlestone, P. Desai, M. Evans and A. Skyring.
Bioregional Development Group, Sutton Ecology Centre
Honeywood Walk, SM5 3NX Carshalton, Surrey, UK. £33, 130 pp.
This report, printed on hemp-straw-recycled paper, is a study of the feasibility of reviving the cultivation and processing of flax and hemp as a sustainable industry in south-east England.
The first section of the report provides the background of the study. It explains why the authors think that local production for local needs is required for a sustainable society. The environmental and social problems accompanying the growing of cotton and the need for alternatives to cotton are summarized; the link between paper use and the disappearance of ancient forests is outlined.
The second section starts with an interesting overview of the history of flax and hemp, followed by a review of cultivation and processing of flax and hemp in the 1990s, with particular emphasis on the situation in the European Union. It discusses textile and paper markets in the UK and evaluates the potential of flax and hemp as sustainable alternatives to cotton and wood.
Section three provides details of the expertise and technology available and under development for processing hemp and flax into textiles and paper. It goes into the details of fibre extraction and pulping technologies. The environmental and economic implications of the technologies are discussed.
Sections four and five summarize the main points from the previous sections, build models for a bioregional fibre industry in south-east England and present conclusions and recommendations.
This study makes very interesting reading for all those interested in fibre hemp. It is well written, well documented and very quantitative. The attitude and approach of this study is nicely illustrated by the following citation from Section II.8, entitled: 'Current and potential uses and markets for hemp': "Much of the information promoted in favour of the revival of hemp comes from the lobby for the legalisation of Cannabis as a recreational drug. Some of these sources are quoted in this section, but our own experience has suggested that in certain instances the case for hemp is overstated. The facts will have to be verified in the field. Nonetheless, hemp is a truly remarkable plant with a myriad of potential uses."
For both flax and hemp the study advocates whole crop utilisation. The highest value line fibre should be processed into textiles, the lower value short fibres (tow) should be pulped to produce high quality paper. The woody core (hurds) can be used for paper, composite boards or heat generation. The study points out that currently, there is no hemp textile industry in western Europe. If hemp is to be revived for textile use, considerable investment in machinery would be required.
In conclusion, this study provides a realistic assesment of the role fibre hemp may play in a more sustainable society. It indicates the potential of the crop, as well as some problems to be resolved. All in all, this publication seems very much worthwhile for those seriously interested in the topic. HvdW.
Do you know more about this? e-mail us at Matthew@HempWorld.com
e-mail us at Matthew@HempWorld.com
Hemp facts and links related to England:
Hemcore Limited,
John Hobson, General Manager
Station Road
Felsted
Great Dunmow
Essex CM6 3HL
E-mail: john@hemcore.demon.co.uk
Web Page: ?
Office: +44-1371-820-066
Fax: +44-1371-820-069
MotherHemp Ltd
Will Stephens, Managing Director
71 Bushy Lodge, Firle, Lewes
East Sussex. BN8 6LS
United Kingdom.
E-mail: Will Stephens will@motherhemp.com
Web Page: http://www.motherhemp.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1323 811 909
Fax: +44 (0) 207 691 7475
Do you know more about this? e-mail us at Matthew@HempWorld.com
*Industrial-Hemp has no psychoactive properties following definition of the European Economic Community (EEC); THC content is less than 0.3%. In general, low THC-seed varieties without psychoactive properties are those that have a THC content of less than 1%. (See also No-THC Hemp-seed.) THC= Delta-9 TetraHydroCannabinol.
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