Italy is the first country in Europe for the development of the circular economy and the cultivation of hemp can represent a strong driving force for the development of sustainable agriculture with high added value. Because of its high degree of environmental sustainability, hemp is considered an eco-compatible plant with a strong action to contrast climate change and desertification, with also a favorable effect on biodiversity. The Italian Law of 22 November 2016, which reintroduced the possibility of cultivating Cannabis Sativa L., can encourage the reactivation of agro-industrial chains, that can allow all the different parts of the plant to be used such as seeds (for oil and flour in the agri-food sector), stem (for the fiber in the textile sector and the canapulo in the industry of green building) and inflorescences, for the para- pharmaceutical sector. Thanks to its rapid growth compared with other similar crops, it can store large quantities of C02 in its stem and roots with quantities ranging from 12 to 22 tons per hectare, depending on the vegetative development of the crop. A more recent study has also shown that hemp treated with partially organic fertilizers, such as UREA, compared to synthetic ones, such as ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), favors greater biomass development, better seed quality and, at the same time, reduces N2O emissions from the ground to the atmosphere. In addition, agronomic studies in the Mediterranean area have demonstrated a greater adaptability of hemp to salt soils compared to other renewal crops such as maize, showing a lower reduction in agronomic yield when the electrical conductivity of the soil increases from 2 ds/m1 to 7.5 ds/m-1. So, the crop is well suited to Southern Italy agriculture that has many soils subject to desertification phenomena and whose climate has already far exceeded the limits imposed by the Paris agreements (COP21).
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