From what I can find, it takes very little pesticides, and can survive just fine without them.
However I am sure that commercial growers use some sort of pesticides, even if in much smaller amounts than say cotton.
www.grist.org...
hemp can be grown with very few pesticides and herbicides, partly because the height and density of the plant creates too much shade for weeds to
thrive. In that way, it is a clear choice over conventional cotton, which could win awards for the volume of pesticides and herbicides typically
doused on it.
There are a few sources claiming that it uses no pesticides, but they all seem to be selling things. From my knowledge of agriculture and pesticide
use, I find it hard to believe that any commercially grown crop would not use some sort of pesticide, even if its just a spray of roundup to kill
everything off before planting.
It makes much more sense for it to be extremely low maintenence, and it would be interesting to see what they use in the large scale operations in
China and other places.
Any sort of homogenous crop will be susceptible to something.
Growing wild is one thing, growing a commercial crop is quite another. Even a dandelion farmer would have to use some sort of pesticide in todays
world. Except the organic farmers I suppose.
[edit on 7-1-2007 by LeftBehind]