The American Chemical Society has a post on the possible use of hemp in creating supercapacitors - Could hemp nanosheets topple graphene for making the ideal supercapacitor?

David Mitlin, Ph.D., explains that supercapacitors are energy storage devices that have huge potential to transform the way future electronics are powered. Unlike today’s rechargeable batteries, which sip up energy over several hours, supercapacitors can charge and discharge within seconds. But they normally can’t store nearly as much energy as batteries, an important property known as energy density. One approach researchers are taking to boost supercapacitors’ energy density is to design better electrodes. Mitlin’s team has figured out how to make them from certain hemp fibers — and they can hold as much energy as the current top contender: graphene.

“Our device’s electrochemical performance is on par with or better than graphene-based devices,” Mitlin says. “The key advantage is that our electrodes are made from biowaste using a simple process, and therefore, are much cheaper than graphene.”

The race toward the ideal supercapacitor has largely focused on graphene — a strong, light material made of atom-thick layers of carbon, which when stacked, can be made into electrodes. Scientists are investigating how they can take advantage of graphene’s unique properties to build better solar cells, water filtration systems, touch-screen technology, as well as batteries and supercapacitors. The problem is it’s expensive.

Mitlin’s group decided to see if they could make graphene-like carbons from hemp bast fibers. The fibers come from the inner bark of the plant and often are discarded from Canada’s fast-growing industries that use hemp for clothing, construction materials and other products. The U.S. could soon become another supplier of bast. It now allows limited cultivation of hemp, which unlike its close cousin, does not induce highs.

Farm Online reports that the Queensland Kenaf industry has been "boosted by new investment", with the hope that the crop will be used as a bioplastic feedstock.

State Trade Minister John Mickel said the NTA Group, owned by Nature Trust of Japan, recently completed construction of a factory at Childers and has Japanese and Australian patents pending for a machine to separate the bark and core of the kenaf plant. In alliance with Isis Central Sugar Mill, NTA is already growing more than 150 hectares of kenaf at Childers.

"The factory, which will employ 10 people on a full-time basis, is expected to produce fibre and core from the kenaf when it reaches full production capacity," Mr Mickel said. "Kenaf fibre can be used as an environmentally friendly bioplastic product, and, with high growth and CO2 absorption rates, its products complement the Queensland Government's policies supporting environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture." ...

NTA has identified kenaf for use as garden mulch and has already started producing high water-holding capacity kenaf mulch at its factory.

I'd never heard of Kenaf, but it turns out this is a polite word for "hemp", which has a long history of firm support (and even more firm suppression) as a crop for both industrial and recreational uses. Apparently Kenaf is also the optimal material for making paper, though its use in this area (in Australia) has been hamstrung by the catch-22 situation of no growers wanting to produce a crop for which no pulp mill exists, and no paper manufacturer wanting to build a plant in the north for which no feedstock is currently being grown.

The Queensland Government has a guide to kenaf production in north Queensland, noting it would "fit well in the sugar farming system as an income-producing fallow crop".