A consortium of universities and international companies has launched a bid to make hemp one of the top 10 crops grown in Australia. The bid to set up a cooperative research center is being led by the University of Southern Queensland and Professor Kerryn Phelps.
The proposed center already has $50 million in support from industry, with the consortium seeking matched funding from the federal government.
University of Southern Queensland Institute for Life Sciences and the Environment executive director Gavin Ash said the consortium wanted to turbocharge research into a crop that had huge potential.
"Hemp was also always seen as one of these industries that had a lot of potential worldwide and was used worldwide," Professor Ash said. Professor Ash said there were opportunities to use hemp in health, as a building material, and in clothing. But he said research into hemp lagged about 80 years behind other crops.
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