Suffolk hemp farmers find new use for their unusual crop

Donovan said the hemp can be used as an insulation material to improve the performance of buildings and to help absorb moisture.

“It buffers internal humidity and that means buildings are less likely to get problems with damp or mould and condensation,” she explained.

“But also it means that they’re less likely to overheat in summer, which is obviously critical at this time of year.

“But what we’ve done is taken those materials that require usually quite a lot of skill and put them into a pre-manufactured kit to make it easy to build so that anyone can do it.”

Donovan said they were aiming to ensure the hemp would cost the same as conventional materials and that within five years it could play a “pivotal role” within the UK construction industry.

A government spokesperson said: “The government has recently eased rules to make it easier for farmers to grow industrial hemp for lawful purposes.

“However, we have no plans to remove the requirement for a licence to grow low-THC cannabis, or to enable the supply of cannabis leaves or flowers under industrial hemp rules.”

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