Hemp pretty much kicks cotton’s ass as a crop grown for fiber. Cotton requires tons of pesticides, and has relatively short, weak fibers. Hemp, grows like a weed (sorry, couldn’t miss the pun), and the fiber harvested is of much better quality.

I don’t think cotton farmers had quite as much to do with it getting banned as much as the puritanical movement in America did at the time, but there is an interesting old US Govt made film promoting hemp as an important crop for US farmers to grow:

Hemp for Victory