Despite an initial boom with huge promises of big opportunities, the hemp sector has been struggling in many countries across the globe. From the recent hemp ban in the US, to a similar ban in Italy, which has effectively stunted the growth of this industry.
The effects of the hemp ban
Among the 3,000 companies associated with Canapa Sativa Italia (CSI) - an Italian hemp industry association - 10% shut down after the hemp ban amendment was signed. Another 10% are preparing to move abroad. Numbers can be interpreted in many ways, one of these interpretations paints a space under pressure. The reality is that the Italian hemp market keeps expanding despite a regulatory structure that struggles to treat it as agriculture.
The study commissioned by CSI and carried out by MPG Consulting in April 2025 shows a very granular picture. The market for flowers is estimated at €1.96 billion, with 22,379 full time workers across the supply chain. The research by economist Davide Fortin and lawyer Maria Paola Liotti, presented at the Chamber of Deputies on April 2, portrays a field that already behaves like modern agriculture. "It generates value, supports jobs, and does so with a sustainability profile that many other crops would envy. What it still lacks is institutional recognition," they say.
Mattia Cusani, one of the first CSI members and now the president, farms legal hemp organically on the Sila plateau. For him the potential is not an abstraction. He describes the hemp chain as a ready made model of circular economy. "Production methods, versatility of the crop, use of leftovers from cultivation lines. All of it exists," he says. "What is missing is a functioning technical table and the removal of several long standing legal knots. Workers aged 25 to 40 sit at the center of this stalled system. They form one of the few rapidly expanding agricultural sectors in the country. They also belong to the generation that has absorbed the worst economic shocks in recent years."
Together with other associations, CSI also asks Brussels for a basic alignment. "Explicitly include flowers among the plant parts permitted for use. Treat open field and greenhouse cultivation as equal. Maintain the full legality of industrial uses like seeds and fibres. And harmonize police checks through a single ministerial decree, because current practices vary widely and create uncertainty, and pressure on farms."
© Azienda Agricola Vamperti
Stories from the field
Two entrepreneurs who legally built their businesses now face seizures triggered by the hemp ban amendment.
In Rome, Noemi closed her shop in early November. She is 34, with a degree in archaeology. For years she worked underpaid shifts in restaurants to cover expenses. In 2017, she and a flatmate invested what little they had into entering the hemp market. They opened a small shop that sold Carmagnola and Futura 75, two of the varieties allowed for cultivation. Over the years, that shop became a point of reference in a difficult neighborhood with no real gathering spaces. They refused franchise expansions from foreign chains and focused on a single local store. A few days of legal turbulence erased all of that.
In Sardinia, the agricultural company Orti Castello saw more than 8,000 plants seized at the end of October 2025. The intervention report lists 2,467 items, even counting already cut stems incorrectly labelled as buds. Every plant had been grown from certified seed and contained low THC. Now the company waits for the release of its own crop. For Massimiliano Quai and his colleagues, the shock is not limited to lost inventory. The farm has already faced thefts in the field despite guards. All of this within a company that has grown steadily since 2018 through biological methods and consistent demand.
Massimiliano repeats the same idea. "Our best year has always been the next one," he says. "The shop moves about €500 per day. Teas and honey sell quickly. Purchases alone since early 2025 have reached €62,910. Across all these years, we only had 6 months of flat or negative results. Everything else has been constant upward movement. The plan is simple. Stay in Sardinia and consolidate. Only once we are truly solid, we'd open a second site abroad. Thailand, maybe. I chose to stay in Italy in 2018 because the political climate seemed favorable."
The MPG Consulting study places these stories inside two possible futures. "Under the current model, a diverse ecosystem of shops, ecommerce platforms, and tobacco shop keeps the market close to €1.96 billion. Employment remains high, the supply chain remains varied. The alternative is a state monopoly controlled by tobacco shops with a tax burden of 56.5%. In that scenario, the market would fall to €148-247 million. More than €1.4 billion in direct and indirect impact would evaporate, and employment would collapse to about 6,000 workers."
Yet, demand grows. "The absence of commercial communication does not slow the market. Many choose hemp flowers as an alternative to tobacco rather than as a substitute. It becomes part of a shift away from one of the most harmful and addictive substances available."
A plethora of growers
MPG Consulting also maps the cultivation side. Small growers sell everything directly. Medium growers split between retail and wholesale. Large growers rely on standardized varieties and volume. Medium growers are the innovative hinge of the entire chain. They test varieties, refine phenotypes, and push the system forward. They are also the most vulnerable link if a monopoly model becomes reality, unlike large growers who can operate in a rigid centralized setting. "The Italian hemp sector grows anyway. The question hanging in the air is not whether it can grow. It is whether the rules will ever grow with it."
