Eighty Years of Studies on Industrial Hemp in the Po Valley (1930--2010)

The Department of Agroenvironmental Science and Technology (DiSTA), University of Bologna, has been studying industrial hemp since 1930s. In the pioneering studies we mostly addressed agronomic issues while most recently, fiber quality and characteristics, along with innovative fiber processes, have been mostly investigated. In general, even though significant progresses have been achieved and innovative production strategies proposed, significant bottlenecks still remain unsolved, especially for the textile uses. Most likely, the production of bio-polymers and non-textile compounds can be economically self-sustaining in a short term, while fiber processing for textile uses still needs significant improvements.