Industrial hemp fiber: A sustainable and economical alternative to cotton. (20th September 2020) - Duque Schumacher, Ana Gabriela
Abstract: The textile industry is one of the highest polluting industries in the world. Recent studies have explored the introduction of environmentally friendly textiles to address this issue. One of these textiles is fiber derived from industrial hemp, which was recently approved for growth in the United States through the 2018 Farm Bill legislation. Motivated by hemp's potential to have a lower ecological footprint than cotton, the objective of this study is to determine if industrial hemp fiber can be produced in an economically competitive manner. Through the lenses of sustainable development and systems engineering, the basic design of the research assesses material selection decisions economically by taking a holistic supply chain view of the agricultural activities associated with industrial hemp compared to its largest competitor (i.e., cotton). With both fibers being comparable in performance, the production process of both textiles is juxtaposed, to account for interdependencies among stages with key economic and environmental considerations. As the economic cost of agricultural activities for hemp is currently uncertain in the United States, our methodology considers four main data inputs to capture the agricultural activities. First, fertilization costs are regarded as part of the cost associated with field preparations. Second, we assess the seed costs associated with cultivation. Third, the cost of irrigation (i.e., water consumption) and fourth, pest control cost represents the cost of field operations. These costs, combined with fiber yield, are used to estimate and compare the two fibers in USD per metric ton of final fiber produced. Industrial hemp is a high yield crop with (on average) 3 times more metric tons of fiber produced per hectare cultivated. Therefore, the adoption of hemp enables a reduction in cost associated with agricultural activities of 77.63%, when compared to cotton for medium total agricultural activity cost and medium yield estimates. In summary, our results suggest that industrial hemp fiber is economically viable and has the potential to be a more environmentally friendly alternative material than cotton within the textile industry. Highlights: The textile industry demands sustainable material alternatives. We study the potential of (industrial) hemp as a fiber alternative to cotton. We show that hemp requires a sustainable amount of water, land, and no pesticides. We provide evidence that hemp fiber is a sustainable and economical alternative.