Hemp Happening in Yorkshire

The Hemp Happening event, organised by SCI Agrisciences and BioVale took place at York’s STEM Centre on 6 April 2022 and saw the launch of BioVale’s Hemp Special Interest Group (SIG). The event brought together organisations and individuals to discuss the production, processing and use of hemp.

A traditional UK crop, hemp is being further developed to provide solutions to current agronomic, economic, climate and biodiversity issues. The event focused on these challenges and opportunities around industrial hemp. The conference covered topics including agronomy, genetic improvement and regulation. It also addressed issues surrounding the commercialisation of hemp as a functional fibre in buildings, textiles and  bio-composites. 

The inspiration for the Hemp Happening event was the outcome of two recent projects:

The Yorkshire Supply Chain Map commissioned by Grow Yorkshire, part of York and North Yorkshire’s Local Economic Partnership and the East Riding of Yorkshire’s Supply Chain network. This project mapped the end-to-end supply chain associated with the growing and production of hemp and hemp products in the Yorkshire region where 35-40 percent of the whole of the UK’s hemp is produced.

And

The HEMP 30 report for BEIS, led by the University of York and the BDC, which detailed a potential extended range of products and uses of hemp and identified an opportunity to scale the industry to £700 million pounds in the UK within ten years, whilst sequestering or displacing one million tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030.

Speakers included the University of York, the BDC, NNFCC, UK Hempcrete, SAC Consulting, FERA, MedCan, Unyte Hemp, AquaPak, SEFF Fibres and the British Hemp Alliance. The event culminated in the launch of the Hemp Special Interest Group (SIG), facilitated by BioVale, to facilitate connections across the multiple supply chains related to industrial hemp, from growing through to final products and markets. For more information about the Hemp SIG, including how to join click here: https://www.biovale.org/what-we-do/business-support/hemp-special-interest-group/