Home Office hampering potential of Scotland's hemp farmers

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have highlighted how the crop could birth an economically successful and climate-friendly industry in Scotland.

However, it is currently being hamstrung by strict Home Office legislation and a lack of infrastructure.

The plant is part of the cannabaceae family, which includes species which are cultivated for their use as a psychoactive drug.

Cannabis is classified as a Class B drug in the UK but farmers are able to grow low-THC – the psychoactive substance present within the plant – varieties if they are successful in applying for Home Office permission.

READ MORE: Could hemp help Scotland's agricultural sector reach Net Zero?

But as Dr Wisdom Dogbe from the University of Aberdeen told The National, farmers are currently subject to a protracted and costly process when attempting to gain a licence.

“It is very difficult to get approval from the Home Office,” he said. “Farmers told us that applying for a licence takes so long that by the time it has been approved the growing season is over.

“Then, even when farmers are granted a licence, they need to pay for the government to supervise their farm every three years.

“It’s really difficult for them because choosing to farm a new crop is a risk on its own. When you add policy challenges on top of that, it deters farmers from going into production.”

Dogbe (below) added that the best thing the UK Government could do to foster this burgeoning industry is to “ensure that regulations are not too strict or expensive for farmers and make it easier for them to get a licence.”

Kyle Esplin is the co-founder of Holistic Highland Hemp, a company which cultivates hemp and sells it in the form of CBD oil – a non-psychoactive chemical substance found in the plant which has numerous medicinal benefits. He echoed Dogbe’s calls for a relaxation in regulations.

He said: “Farmers pay £550 for a three-year licence. But some have found that when they go to renew it, it gets denied.

“Whoever granted the licence may have looked at the map and thought ‘great’ but then the person deciding whether it gets renewed it has said, for example, that it’s too close to a B-road in terms of visibility.

“So, that’s the approval denied entirely at their discretion, even though the farmer has got a field and can grow it there.

“Then the government will say that in order to grow it the farmer will have to plant 10 metres of wheat all the way around the hemp to try and disguise it. But the pesticides used on wheat can’t be used on hemp so it all becomes unfeasible.

“The whole industry has just been disadvantaged and sidelined.”

READ MORE: Cannabis and Scotland: The surprising crop once a key component of nation's agriculture

Esplin said this is surprising given the ecological benefits the crop has in terms of carbon-capture and biodiversity. Indeed, according to Dogbe’s research, most farmers gravitate towards the crop because it can improve the health of soil in a fallow year.

He said: “Hemp improves the biodiversity, leaves behind a lot of nutrients and also extracts toxins from the soil. So, from the farmers we spoke to, it seemed that the main reason they wanted to grow hemp was because of the environmental benefits.”

The UK is a net importer of hemp seed and hemp fibre despite ample opportunity for domestic production.

Still, some businesses have forged on in utilising the crop despite the regulatory challenges.

IndiNature, a company based in the Scottish Borders, has just opened the UK’s first dedicated natural fibre insulation mill which uses industrial hemp in the end product.

IndiTherm is a carbon negative insulation material containing hemp sourced from farms in the UK.

Speaking at the opening of the mill, Scottish Government minister Patrick Harvie welcomed the technology as a sustainable solution to the country’s energy problems.

He said: “Developing climate-friendly solutions to heat and insulate our homes should be seen not only as a challenge which must be met to deliver on our climate obligations, but as a substantial opportunity for the sector and the wider economy.

“I was pleased to visit IndiNature to find out more about their innovative, sustainable insulation products and wish the team every success as it continues to develop, grow and support the acceleration of our green heat industry.”

But Dogbe said that change must occur if the industry is to thrive in Scotland: “Importing these products instead of producing them does not make sense. There is huge potential, the land is available, the soil is good and the weather is right for producing the crop here.

Esplin echoed the call for change and said the regulatory environment of the UK was putting farmers off, particularly when compared to the more lenient approaches to the crop in Europe.

“The biggest hesitation from farmers is not having the developed domestic market for their produce despite overall popularity of the plant,” he said.

“It’s also because they’ve been disadvantaged with the licencing system compared to their European counterparts.

“In Europe, the farmer is able to sell the flower for CBD extraction and the leaves, which get harvested for hemp tea.

“But in the UK, they’re only allowed to use the seed and the stalk; they’re not allowed to use the leaf and the flower. That’s a large part of their potential income being lost.”