Aberystwyth University’s AberInnovation Campus in Wales is home to a hub that aims to unleash the full potential of industrial hemp for the UK.
In the UK, hemp licenses grew from six in 2013, to 136 by 2023. However, the UK’s Industrial Hemp sector continues to be challenged by licensing restrictions and suboptimal supply chain.
Aberystwyth University’s Industrial Hemp Innovations Center will gather academics to discuss these issues and explore hemp’s many applications in textiles, constructions, biofuels food, bioplastics animal products and medicine.
Industrial hemp offers many opportunities to create green jobs and rural economic growth. said Ana Winters, from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences. “Hemp’s rapid growth—up to four metres in just 100 days—and its low input requirements, including minimal need for fertilisers and pesticides, make it a sustainable alternative crop for UK farmers.”
The Hub will focus on advocacy and engagement with policy, research and developments, economic viability of hemp in the UK, as well as exploration of financial market.
Under the UK industrial hemp license, the only parts that can be utilized are the fiber and the seeds. A medical cannabis license is required for growers who wish to cultivate cannabis to extract its cannabinoids.
The UK government announced in November of last year that they would be reforming the then current hemp license regulations. They claim this will reduce the burden placed on farmers by bureaucracy. License holders were no longer required by law to specify which fields would be used for crops. Next year, the licence maximum will extend from 3 years to 6 and growers can defer their crop starting date up to 1 year.
This April, there will be a new era of the UK government accepted ACMD’s recommendation that the maximum tetrahydrocannabinol level (THC), in industrial hemp, be raised from 0.2% (to 0.3%), was a positive step. The UK’s 0.2% threshold places UK farmers at an unfair disadvantage with those of other regions. This limits varieties and makes it more likely that a crop will “go hot” and require destruction.