Why Wales.
Why now.
Wales has the land, the climate, the policy context, and the political moment. What it has lacked is the organised supply chain to turn that potential into a functioning sector. That is what Hemp Cymru is building.
Y Tir · The Land
Wales grew hemp
for centuries.
The land remembers.
Industrial hemp was cultivated across Wales and the wider British Isles for rope, sail cloth, and textile production from the medieval period through to the nineteenth century. The crop was so fundamental to naval and agricultural life that its cultivation was periodically mandated by statute.
Wales has approximately 1.7 million hectares of agricultural land. A fraction of that — introduced as a rotational break crop across existing mixed and arable farms — would be sufficient to support a viable processing operation and a functioning domestic supply chain.
The Atlantic climate of west Wales — wet winters, mild summers, consistent rainfall — is well-suited to hemp cultivation. Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, and Carmarthenshire present the strongest agronomic case for the first growing season.
Y Cyd-destun · The Policy Context
The Sustainable Farming Scheme
needs crops like hemp.
The Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme replaces direct payments with payments for ecosystem services — carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water quality, and soil health. Hemp delivers against all four metrics.
As a break crop it reduces pesticide and herbicide use. Its root system improves soil structure and reduces runoff. Its above-ground biomass sequesters carbon during growth. And its cultivation supports crop rotation diversity — a key SFS objective.
Hemp Cymru is engaging with Welsh Government and the Senedd to ensure that hemp cultivation is explicitly recognised within SFS payment calculations — and that the licensing process is streamlined for co-operative growing structures.
The Welsh Bioeconomy Strategy, published in 2023, identifies bio-based materials as a priority sector for Welsh industrial development. Hemp sits at the centre of that strategy — if the processing infrastructure exists to receive it.
Yr Achos Economaidd · The Economic Case
Value retained.
Not exported.
£1,600+
Per acre through processed outputs
vs. under £200 per acre for unprocessed straw
1.63t
CO₂ sequestered per hectare during growth
Above-ground biomass carbon capture
£50m
Public-private investment scenario
Presented at Senedd hustings, April 2026
Figures presented as indicative. Full sourcing available in the Hemp Cymru briefing note.