Sophie Waegebaert

Europe’s hemp boom has filled fields but left factories waiting. The region now grows tens of thousands of hectares of fibre crops, yet only a handful of facilities can refine them for textiles. Hemp’s challenge is no longer agronomy but engineering — how to build the machinery, skills, and scale that make a crop an industry.

Across Western Europe, fields of hemp are re-appearing beside the region’s long-trusted flax, but technical familiarity has yet to catch up with acreage. Farmers possess the land, machinery, and ambition—yet remain unsure how to turn stalks into stable income. For now, cultivation outpaces coordination, leaving Europe’s textile revival rooted more in hope than experience.

A key organisation playing a vital role in the hemp movement is Inagro, which provides research and advice in agriculture. Crop Researcher Sophie Waegebaert about the organisation's work with farmers, and the challenges facing hemp as an alternative textile fibre.