High hopes for top-secret hemp crop

Deputy Steve Luce is encouraging farmers to diversify into high-value and low-input crops as an alternative to growing Jersey Royals in the same ground, year after year and to improve the environment and soil quality.

Hemp is grown commercially for fibres from the stalks, which are used for making clothes and animal bedding, and for its seeds which can be added to food or turned into oil for cooking and beauty products.

‘I was impressed with the trials, the crop is a good commercial size, and the plants have grown very well,’ Deputy Luce said.

‘The signs are looking promising, and we now need to concentrate on getting the harvesting right. It will be important to get some accurate and meaningful results from both the seeds and the stalks.

‘The data we get will help inform the business plan, and whether there really is a commercial future for this crop here in Jersey.

‘At the moment things look promising and the hope will be that we see an increase in production next year,’ he added.

Under the trial, four varieties of hemp are being grown at an undisclosed location in the Island.

Before the hemp could be planted, Health Minister Andrew Green had to grant a special one-year licence.

While the varieties being grown in the Island are not related to recreational or medicinal cannabis, the cultivation of any form of this plant remains illegal without a licence.

Environment is investigating a range of alternative crops to take potato fields out of production that are high in potato eel worm.

The pest, also known as potato cyst nematode or PCN, is a big threat to the Jersey Royal crop because it damages roots and tubers.

Hemp is one of a number of crops being considered as part of an ‘alternative crop’ strategy for Jersey, to diversify and broaden the rural economy.

Trials are also currently underway to see if new ‘super-food’ honeyberries, which taste like a cross between raspberries and blueberries, and tea are viable crops to grow in Jersey.

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