Once farmers had to grow it by Royal decree to ensure Britain ruled the waves.
Hemp, the plant said to have 25,000 uses, including making ropes and sails, has long since fallen out of fashion.
But a Yorkshire family farming business is now not only cultivating hemp but are turning it into modern-day eco-building materials.
Martin and Nick Voase, who farm near Leven, started growing hemp six years ago to supply a Suffolk-based company called Hemcore.
But the contract fell through because of prohibitive haulage costs, leaving the farmers with a pile of hemp straw and no buyers.
Eventually they decided to try processing the straw themselves on the farm — no easy option as it's an incredibly tough plant.
Over the past two years they have invested time and money into building and adapting machinery to separate the rough fibers on the outside of the stem from the woody inner core or shiv.
The result has been luxurious dust-free hemp bedding for pets.
But the pair, who will be growing 160 acres of hemp next year, are convinced it has a future for much, much more.
They've taken a leaf from other eco-friendly projects to create all kinds of building materials, from insulation to structural blocks.
And this spring the crops that were growing on their fields will be used in the conversion of a granary and outhouses on the farm to holiday cottages.
A hemp and lime mixture will be shuttered onto the outside of the old brick walls to form an eight inch thick insulating, breathable "overcoat" with hemp and lime blocks used in the floor and ceiling.
The Voases are now investing £40,000 in new machinery to process the hemp, with the aim of producing a commercial insulating block any jobbing builder can use.
Mr Voase said: "Initially we thought it was a crop worth growing as a break crop from cereals but it's something we've become passionate about.
"We are doing this on a very tight budget — we are not borrowing money and there aren't any Government grants.
"By February we should be able to supply material to someone to take it away and build a wall — blocks will take a little longer as they take nine weeks to cure."
Mr Voase said the only fly in the ointment was Environment Agency's plans to allow the area to flood to protect homes in Hull. If they go ahead around 30 per cent of his farmland could be flooded.
He said: "We believe there's the potential to create a whole new industry around hemp with jobs for local people in processing and manufacture, but it's still very much in its early days. It's difficult when you have the threat of this hanging over you."
Builder Mike Turner, from Hedon, who is doing the conversion work, has been so enthused with the material he's attended courses which train people in skills that were lost three generations ago.
He said: "It outperforms modern insulation because there's no cold air being drawn in through gaps and cracks; heating costs should be reduced by 70 per cent and the hemp is carbon neutral."
Hemp is indelibly associated with the area — the Voases farm is only a few miles from Hempholme, once a raised area of marshland where hemp was grown.
The oldest piece of fabric ever found was an 8,000-year-old piece of hemp. The first Levi jeans were made from hemp and most paper used to be made from the plant. But the US and the UK banned it through misguided association with the cultivation of cannabis.
The crop can now be grown under licence in the UK, where it appears to once again be growing in popularity, with Suffolk-based Hemcore recently investing in new £4m processing plant.
News Hawk: MsRedEye: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Yorkshire Post
Author: Alexandra Wood
Copyright: 2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing
Contact: Contact Us - Yorkshire Post: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More
Website: Farm has high hopes for homes made with hemp - Yorkshire Post
Hemp, the plant said to have 25,000 uses, including making ropes and sails, has long since fallen out of fashion.
But a Yorkshire family farming business is now not only cultivating hemp but are turning it into modern-day eco-building materials.
Martin and Nick Voase, who farm near Leven, started growing hemp six years ago to supply a Suffolk-based company called Hemcore.
But the contract fell through because of prohibitive haulage costs, leaving the farmers with a pile of hemp straw and no buyers.
Eventually they decided to try processing the straw themselves on the farm — no easy option as it's an incredibly tough plant.
Over the past two years they have invested time and money into building and adapting machinery to separate the rough fibers on the outside of the stem from the woody inner core or shiv.
The result has been luxurious dust-free hemp bedding for pets.
But the pair, who will be growing 160 acres of hemp next year, are convinced it has a future for much, much more.
They've taken a leaf from other eco-friendly projects to create all kinds of building materials, from insulation to structural blocks.
And this spring the crops that were growing on their fields will be used in the conversion of a granary and outhouses on the farm to holiday cottages.
A hemp and lime mixture will be shuttered onto the outside of the old brick walls to form an eight inch thick insulating, breathable "overcoat" with hemp and lime blocks used in the floor and ceiling.
The Voases are now investing £40,000 in new machinery to process the hemp, with the aim of producing a commercial insulating block any jobbing builder can use.
Mr Voase said: "Initially we thought it was a crop worth growing as a break crop from cereals but it's something we've become passionate about.
"We are doing this on a very tight budget — we are not borrowing money and there aren't any Government grants.
"By February we should be able to supply material to someone to take it away and build a wall — blocks will take a little longer as they take nine weeks to cure."
Mr Voase said the only fly in the ointment was Environment Agency's plans to allow the area to flood to protect homes in Hull. If they go ahead around 30 per cent of his farmland could be flooded.
He said: "We believe there's the potential to create a whole new industry around hemp with jobs for local people in processing and manufacture, but it's still very much in its early days. It's difficult when you have the threat of this hanging over you."
Builder Mike Turner, from Hedon, who is doing the conversion work, has been so enthused with the material he's attended courses which train people in skills that were lost three generations ago.
He said: "It outperforms modern insulation because there's no cold air being drawn in through gaps and cracks; heating costs should be reduced by 70 per cent and the hemp is carbon neutral."
Hemp is indelibly associated with the area — the Voases farm is only a few miles from Hempholme, once a raised area of marshland where hemp was grown.
The oldest piece of fabric ever found was an 8,000-year-old piece of hemp. The first Levi jeans were made from hemp and most paper used to be made from the plant. But the US and the UK banned it through misguided association with the cultivation of cannabis.
The crop can now be grown under licence in the UK, where it appears to once again be growing in popularity, with Suffolk-based Hemcore recently investing in new £4m processing plant.
News Hawk: MsRedEye: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Yorkshire Post
Author: Alexandra Wood
Copyright: 2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing
Contact: Contact Us - Yorkshire Post: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More
Website: Farm has high hopes for homes made with hemp - Yorkshire Post
