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CropCastAuthor: Farm Advisory Service
Welcome to Cropcast, bringing you all the on crops and soils. Each month, SAC Consulting advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates and the latest research to help you make decisions in the field. Scotlands Farm Advisory Service is funded by the Scottish Government. Our podcast covers a range of topics which help support your farm or croft to be more profitable and sustainable. Language: en Genres: Business News, News, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Conversations - Hemp - The Crop in Waiting?
Episode 16
Tuesday, 17 February, 2026
Welcome to CropCast Conversations. On today’s episode Mark is joined by Iain Riddell. Iain was a consultant and project manager with SAC Consulting for 45 years, before becoming self-employed and operating under Graystones Consulting. Iain’s work focuses on agricultural supply chains and his main interest is industrial hemp, which will be the focus of this episode. The global market for hemp is expected to quadruple by 2030 and as markets here evolve, there is great potential for Scotland’s farmers to reap the benefits.Hemp was actually grown in Scotland in the Middle Ages for rope and textile production, before it became more economic to import, to make ropes and sails for ships. It has recently attracted interest as a new arable crop as more uses for hemp become viable, including fibre/shiv for insulation and boarding in house construction and seeds used for cold pressed oil and food health products, plus many other uses. Hemp has also been shown to improve soil structure and quality, store CO2 and improve biodiversity and could play an important role in reducing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. There is potential for this highly versatile crop to be a profitable break crop for farmers as demand increases for biobased materials to replace products derived from fossil fuels.Industrial hemp is used across sectors such as agriculture, automotives, bio-energy, construction, food and beverages, furniture, paper, personal care, recycling and textiles. Several years field crop experience in Angus and the Borders, and hemp crop trials in Scotland in 2024 has confirmed that the crop grows well in our climate.Episode Timestamps 01.23 Introducing Iain Riddell02.50 Potential uses for hemp as an industrial crop03.46 What do we mean by ‘industrial hemp’05.45 Historical context10.45 Growing hemp for fibre12.17 Hemp – what’s currently going on in the UK17.09 What we learned from growing hemp in the rotation22.48 Retting process28.32 Emerging hemp markets and potential uses33.42 Hemp seed industry35.26 Phytoremediation and the advantage of deep tap roots37.23 Biodiversity benefitsResources The Potential of the Hemp Crop in Scotland | Helping farmers in ScotlandAdvancing a sustainable Scottish supply chain for industrial hemp and co-productsBritish Hemp AllianceIndiNature – Natural fibre construction insulationhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-hemp-licensing-guidance/industrial-hemp-licensing-factsheetThe Rowett Institute | The University of AberdeenContact:Mark.Bowsher-Gibbs@sac.co.ukGraystonesconsulting308@gmail.com (Iain Riddell)For more information, visit www.FAS.scotFacebook:
