Hemp: A UK Wonder Fibre – So Why Aren't Policies and Infrastructure Supporting It?
In the heart of Suffolk, a vibrant community interest company, is making the case for hemp as one of the UK’s overlooked native fibres. Our CEO Tamara Cincik met with Claire from Contemporary Hempery who spoke of hemp’s many properties, not only can hemp clothe us, but it can also house us and feed us. Claire said:
“You don’t have to do anything to grow it, except put the seed in the ground. There are no inputs so this is a massive sustainability tick. We are here in East Anglia in the driest part of the country in a drought, and look at this hemp next to me.”
Hemp has been used for thousands of years. In the Egyptian and Roman times, hemp was used as a textile, as well as paper, medicine, food, oil and building infrastructure.
At the time of recording this interview, Suffolk like most of the UK was in a drought. Yet here, Claire stands at 5’8”, with healthy and vibrant green hemp in abundance above her. This is a live demonstration that native, climate-adapted plants can outperform crops that the 20th century has instead heavily invested in. Cheap water-thirsty cotton, and synthetic plastics for example, rely on high-input, high-emission supply chains and are increasingly exposed by extreme weather.
The question this raises for policy: what would it actually take to build UK fibre sovereignty, the infrastructure, investment and regulatory support needed to bring native fibres like hemp back into mainstream production, at scale, rather than as a niche revival?
This question has clear relevance to the wider push for a UK natural fibres strategy, sitting alongside wool (see our work at Great British Wool Revival), flax and linen as part of a bigger story about home-grown textile production and fibre sovereignty.
So, we’re asking, what do you think it would take to get hemp and other indigenous fibres properly backed by UK policy?
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