Hemp in France

Hemp (French: chanvre) has been grown continuously in France for hundreds of years or longer for use as a textile, paper, animal bedding, and for nautical applications.

Hemp field at Toulouse

History

Hemp rope-making machine at Arsenal de Rochefort

There is archaeological evidence that Neolithic Europeans used hemp cloth in what is now Southern France 4,000 years BP.^[1][2] Hemp was introduced as a crop from Central and East Asia to Europe by the Scythians during the Bronze Age, and it was cultivated in France by 1000 CE and used for a number of purposes including canvas for sails and sacks, rope, and as a textile.^[3][4] William Shakespeare wrote of the quality of hemp cloth from Locronan in the tragedy Coriolanus.^[5][a] The Corderie Royale was built at Arsenal de Rochefort in 1666 for hemp rope needed by the Royal (French) Navy's rigging.^[7] In the 19th century, hemp production reached 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres).^[8] Breton hemp (from Brittany) was considered some of the finest in the world.^[9] The French Navy "always"^{[clarification needed]} used national hemp sources for oakum necessary to seal wooden boats and ships.^[10]

Decline

Production declined and nearly went extinct^[b] with the introduction of other fibers, especially cotton,^[12] until its reintroduction in the 1960s.^[13][14] France is the only Western European country that never prohibited hemp cultivation in the 20th century.^[15][16][17]

Modern hemp

France produced more than half of the hemp in Europe most years between 1993 and 2015.^[c] Most modern hemp seed cultivars originate from France and a handful of other European countries, or China.^[19] Hemp fiber from France is used to make hemp paper and the hurds are used to make bedding for horses and other domesticated animals.^[3][d] As of 1994, most of the crop was used to make high quality paper for Bibles, currency and rolling paper.^[11][20]

Coopérative Centrale Des Producteurs De Semences De Chanvre is the main supplier of hempseed in the European Union.^[21]

See also

• Cannabis in France

Notes

1. Act II, scene I refer to the fabric lockram, derived from Locronan^[6]
2. 700 hectares planted in 1960 was France's minimum recorded crop^[11]
3. According to European Industrial Hemp Association, only Spain produced more than France, in 1998^[18]
4. Horse bedding consumed 45% of the hurds in 2010 and 2013^[20]