Fibre & textiles
Bast fibre from the stalk can be processed into yarn, textiles, technical fabrics, cordage and nonwoven materials.
Hemp, materials, food & medicine
The many uses of cannabis hemp
Cannabis sativa is a genuinely multipurpose plant. Low-THC industrial hemp can provide fibre, seed, oil and woody hurd for products ranging from textiles and food to construction materials, paper, biocomposites and biomass. Cannabis also has a separate medicinal and psychoactive history.
A multipurpose crop
What hemp can be used for
UN Trade and Development describes industrial hemp as a versatile crop with applications across agriculture, automotive materials, bioenergy, construction, food and beverages, furniture, paper, personal care, recycling and textiles.
Construction
Hemp hurd and fibre are used in products such as hemp-lime construction materials, insulation and boards.
Paper & packaging
Fibres can be pulped for paper and incorporated into packaging, moulded fibre and composite products.
Biocomposites
Hemp fibre can reinforce composite materials used in consumer goods, construction and automotive applications.
Food & seed oil
Hemp seed can be eaten whole or hulled, milled into food ingredients, or pressed to produce edible seed oil.
Biomass & energy
Plant biomass can be considered as feedstock for combustion, pyrolysis, gasification and other energy processes.
Evidence source:
The current UNCTAD material supports a broad point that hemp has a wide range of practical applications.
Read the UNCTAD industrial-hemp report ↗
Seed, protein & oil
Hemp as food
Hemp seed is nutritionally useful, but the old page's description of it as the single most complete food on Earth was promotional rather than a defensible scientific conclusion.
Protein, lipids and dietary fibre
Recent food-science reviews describe hemp seed as a source of protein, dietary fibre and oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Composition varies with cultivar, growing conditions and processing.
FAO AGRIS — hemp-seed nutrition reviewSeed uses, oil and historical material
CCGUIDE's updated seed page covers food, cold-pressed oil, bird food and fishing bait, industrial uses and the legal distinction between seed and controlled parts of the cannabis plant.
The cannabis hemp seed and its usesFibre, hurd & composites
Industrial materials
The stalk provides two particularly useful streams: long bast fibre and the woody inner material commonly called hurd or shiv.
Traditional and technical fibre
Hemp has a long history in rope and cloth and is now also used in technical textiles and nonwoven fibre products.
Industrial hemp archiveInsulation and hemp-lime materials
UK research has examined hemp biomass for construction applications including insulation products and hemp-lime materials.
UK HEMP-30 phase 1 reportHemp-filled polymers and biocomposites
Hemp fibre and fillers can be incorporated into polymer composites. This is more precise than the old suggestion that every conventional plastic item can simply be replaced by hemp.
The Hemp Plastic CompanyCurrent overview
Industrial hemp in a modern economy
UNCTAD's policy brief maps hemp into textiles, technical textiles, biocomposites, packaging, paper, construction, insulation, biofuels, food, cosmetics and other product streams.
UNCTAD — Industrial hemp: an old crop in a modern eraBiomass archive
Hemp and energy
Hemp biomass can be converted through established biomass processes, but the economics and environmental performance depend on yield, transport, processing, land use and the energy system being compared.
A possible bioenergy feedstock — not a universal replacement
UNCTAD includes bioenergy among industrial hemp applications. That supports treating hemp as one possible biomass feedstock..
UNCTAD policy briefPyrolysis, methanol and the FCDA argument
The redesigned fuel page preserves CCGUIDE's historical biomass arguments while clearly identifying them as campaign material rather than present-day engineering or lifecycle analysis.
Hemp for fuelA separate use category
Medicinal cannabis
Medical use should not be mixed together with industrial-hemp claims. Prescription cannabis-based products are assessed by product, indication, dose, evidence and risk.
Prescription cannabis-based medicines
NHS guidance explains that cannabis-based medicines are prescribed only in limited circumstances and that benefits, side effects, dependence risk and THC content need to be considered.
NHS medical cannabisCondition-specific clinical recommendations
NICE NG144 covers cannabis-based medicinal products for areas including chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, multiple-sclerosis spasticity and severe treatment-resistant epilepsy, while also setting limits on use for chronic pain.
NICE NG144Older medicinal-cannabis collection
CCGUIDE's medical archive contains historical studies, press reports and campaign material. Some claims and links are old, so current NHS/NICE guidance should be used where present-day clinical accuracy matters.
Open the medical archiveCurrent UK guidance
Growing industrial hemp requires a licence
The practical uses of hemp do not remove the legal controls on cultivating cannabis in the UK.
Seed and fibre are the permitted industrial focus
Home Office guidance for the 2026 growing season says organisations cultivating low-THC industrial hemp must obtain a controlled-drugs domestic licence. The industrial-hemp licence permits cultivation for seed and fibre uses and does not authorise use of the flowers or leaves.
Home Office industrial-hemp licensing
This page is an information and archive resource, not legal advice. Home Office application windows,
licensing conditions and permitted varieties can change, so growers should use the current official guidance.
Link maintenance
Older links?
- Hemp Plastic: an active site about hemp-blended biocomposites and bioplastics. Visit Hemp Plastic
- Bagohemp: the long-running hemp bags, hats and accessories site. Visit Bagohemp
- Hemp-seed article: Ratical still hosts the historical article cited by the old page. Its nutrition claims should be compared with modern food-science sources such as the FAO AGRIS review above. Read the Ratical archive
Continue exploring
More CCGUIDE hemp resources
Move from this overview into the specialist pages and the wider archive.
What is hemp?
CCGUIDE's historical introduction to hemp, fibre, seed and cannabis uses.
Open hemp pageIndustrial cannabis / hemp
A refreshed gateway to fibre, materials, food, fuel and surviving external resources.
Open industrial hempHemp seed & its uses
Food, oil, practical uses, historical claims and current UK licensing.
Open seed usesHemp for fuel
CCGUIDE's redesigned biomass and renewable-energy archive.
Open fuel archiveCannabis in scripture
An older CCGUIDE page presenting historical and interpretive claims about cannabis in religious texts.
Open archive pageAlphabetical site index
Find more CCGUIDE pages on hemp, cannabis history, medicine, law and campaigning.
Browse the index