One of the oldest cultivated plants is in the race for the future!
Many books have been written about the history of the hemp plant. Here we want to devote ourselves specifically to the topics that currently offer economic and ecological opportunities on the hemp market. As early as 1994, Matthias Bröckers wrote in the foreword to his book "Hanf- Die Wiederentdeckung der Nutzpflanze Hanf": "The facts gathered here on the history of hemp and its potential for an ecological future make a rediscovery of cannabis inevitable."
The hemp
Hemp is an extremely hardy plant that is particularly suitable for biodynamic cultivation due to its resistance to pests, a large growth advantage in competition with other plants and a strong incompatibility with most conventional herbicides.
The plant binds a lot of CO₂ in cellulose and hemicellulose. As a fuel, it offers a climate-neutral alternative, and in building materials hemp even saves CO₂ by up to 60 %. One binds several tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere with the construction of a "hemp house".
For every tonne of hemp cellulose grown and processed, approx. 1.5 tonnes of CO₂ are bound from the atmosphere. For one hectare, this amounts to approx. 3-17 tonnes of CO₂. To achieve the Paris targets, CO2 prices of between 60 and 80 US dollars/tonne will be necessary from 2025 at the latest, rising to between 50 and 100 US dollars by 2030. As of August 2018, the prices achieved in EU emissions trading are around €18/tonne, which represents a price increase of over 200% compared to the previous year.
Revitalization
Hemp also has amazing properties when it comes to revitalising soils, some of which are heavily contaminated. In Belarus, hemp is being used in research to decontaminate contaminated soils and around Fukushima, cannabis is even said to accelerate the cleaning of radioactively contaminated soils.
Besides all these interesting properties, hemp is one of the oldest cultivated plants of mankind. In China, the first ropes were made from hemp fibres in 2,800 BC, as was the world's first recorded paper, a piece of hemp paper from 140 BC is still preserved today.
We are happy if you are planning a project with and around hemp! Please contact us to see if we can support you with information, networking or distribution! Every project brings this unique resource forward!
