Industrial Hemp Agriculture

Up to the early 1900's hemp was one of the world's most significant crops. Three quarters of the world's paper and the majority of twine, rope, ship sails, rigging and nets were made from hemp fibre. Hemp oil was the most widely used oil for lighting. However, around the 1930's, hemp as an agricultural crop, all but disappeared from world markets. This coincided with the US banning of marijuana and the release of the first "plastic fibre" by Dupont. So in the space of a century hemp has gone from one of the world's most widely used industrial crops to one which is only recognised as a source of an illicit narcotic (Hever, 1995).

http://www.teagasc.ie/research/reports/crops/4487/eopr-4487.htm