Unique hemp crop project is ready for harvesting

Kitty Wilson Brown and her business partner Claire O’Sullivan are celebrating the start of their third hemp harvest

The founders of a unique project to grow hemp for fine fabric have a dream of reviving the fortunes of the ancient textile industry.

Kitty Wilson Brown, a weaver and artist, and Claire O’Sullivan, a creative entrepreneur, are about to start their third harvest of the crop near Metfield, Suffolk.

They said the production of fine hemp textile was an important and thriving industry for hundreds of years in the Waveney Valley.

They were granted a licence to grow hemp, a plant in the cannabis family, at Wakelyns Farm by the Home Office in 2022.

The aim of the hemp project is to produce colourful, patterned fabric and revive the industry by involving the community with harvesting, processing the straw, spinning the fibre and weaving the cloth.

Working under the name Contemporary Hempery, the pair said their hemp project was the first in more than a century to bring the crop back to the area.

They also run a Hemp Harvest Retreat in August each year for people to stay at the farm, get involved with harvesting the crop and learn more about spinning, natural dyeing and weaving.

Ms Wilson Brown said: "We want to breathe new life into the the hemp weaving industry and we hope this sustainable crop can be turned into colourful fabrics for clothing, art and upholstery.

"As far as we know, we are the only people in the UK growing hemp specifically for fine linen and the fact that the crop requires no fertiliser, no herbicide, no pesticide and no irrigation is a huge part of its appeal."

Kitty Wilson Brown (right) gathering hemp with her business partner Claire O’Sullivan

According to a European Commission report, the carbon sequestering properties of hemp are remarkable.

In just five months one hectare (2.5 acres) of hemp can trap between nine and 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The field-to-fabric operation at Metfield started in 2022 with just half an acre (0.2 hectares) of hemp, but this year three acres have been planted.

Ms O’Sullivan said the industry dwindled from the 18th Century because of competition from cheap imports of cotton and the last East Anglian hemp weaving company, in South Lopham, Norfolk, closed in 1925.

"Hemp is one of the most sustainable crops in the world. It has tap roots that can actually help revitalise the soil and remineralise it," she said.

"It sequesters more carbon than a new growth forest, it needs no chemical input and it grows so fast it cuts out all the weeds and leaves the land in better condition."