Toulouse_-_Chemin_de_Tournefeuille_-_20140627_(1)

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.

History

There is archaeological evidence that Neolithic Europeans used hemp cloth in what is now Southern France 4,000 years BP. Hemp was introduced as a crop from Central and East Asia to Europe by the

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

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. William Shakespeare wrote of the quality of hemp cloth from

Locronan Locronan (; br, Lokorn) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France, with a population of 800. Locronan is a member of the ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de France'' ("The most beautiful villages of France") associa ...

in the tragedy ''

Coriolanus ''Coriolanus'' ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare worked on it during the same yea ...

''. The

Corderie Royale The ''Corderie Royale International de la mer'' is a vast museum complex located in the heart of the maritime Arsenal de Rochefort. The building built in 1666 has been classified as a historic monument since 1967, and currently a candidate for i ...

was built at Arsenal de Rochefort in 1666 for hemp rope needed by the Royal (French) Navy's rigging. In the 19th century, hemp production reached . Breton hemp (from

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

) was considered some of the finest in the world. The French Navy "always" used national hemp sources for

oakum Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibre used to seal gaps. Its main traditional applications were in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships; in plumbing, for ...

necessary to seal wooden boats and ships.

Decline

Production declined and nearly went nearly extinct with the introduction of other fibers, especially cotton, until its reintroduction in the 1960s. France is the only Western European country that never prohibited hemp cultivation in the 20th century.EU hemp: history of deregulation
Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association, accessed 2019-02-17

Modern hemp

France produced more than half of the hemp in Europe most years between 1993 and 2015. Most modern hemp seed cultivars originate from France and a handful of other European countries, or China. Hemp fiber from France is used to make

hemp paper Hemp paper is paper varieties consisting exclusively or to a large extent from pulp obtained from fibers of industrial hemp. The products are mainly specialty papers such as cigarette paper, banknotes and technical filter papers. Compared to wood ...

and the hurds are used to make bedding for horses and other domesticated animals. As of 1994, most of the crop was used to make high quality paper for Bibles, currency and

rolling paper Rolling paper is a specialty paper used for making cigarettes (commercially manufactured filter cigarettes and individually made roll-your-own cigarettes). Rolling papers are packs of several cigarette-size sheets, often folded inside a cardbo ...

. Coopérative Centrale Des Producteurs De Semences De Chanvre is the main supplier of

hempseed Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants ...

in the European Union.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * Agriculture in France

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...