Marijuana-Hemp

Hemp Seed Livestock Meal Receives Green Lights On Way to Federal Approval

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:07:07 GMT

After years of work and regulatory paperwork, the The Hemp Feed Coalition announces Hemp Seed Meal for laying hens has been recommended by FDA-Center for Veterinary Medicine and voted by AAFCO into their Ingredient Definition Committee for the final step in the approval pathway.

The definition allows hemp seed meal up to 20% into feed mixes for laying hens. This marks the first hemp feed ingredient to get federal recommendation and uptake by AAFCO.

Wendy Mosher, CEO at New West Genetics and vice president of Hemp Feed Coalition, says this is something that has been in the works for at least four years.

“There’s a lengthy process for any new crop to get ingredient approval, but it’s worth it, you can’t have commodity crop without a feed opportunity for that crop,” Mosher says. “Federal approval gives us a leg up into adoption and scale.”

Mosher says before deregulation in 2014, hemp acres were zero, then by 2020, climbed to a peak of around 400,000 acres. Today, total U.S. hemp acres are reported around 55,000.

“I think this is a positive thing—it shows with the right incentives crops can be expanded rapidly, and that those participants with long term vision are still here, and are building the markets in a sustainable fashion. Hemp is a great opportunity for the crop rotation as well as soil health” Mosher says. “Hempseed meal as a feed ingredient contributes to the risk mitigation of planting the crop—it’s another place for the crop to go.”

As a feed ingredient, the coalition cites hemp grain providing essential vitamins, minerals, healthy oils, and a complete protein profile. For egg production, this can lead to a value-added product with higher omega 3 content. It has been verified that any potential cannabinoid contaminants do not transfer into the egg product.

With the regulatory obstacles starting to be removed, Mosher is optimistic about the educational opportunities for the market to increase in size.

“Hemp can serve the same basic protein and oil markets that currently use soybeans or canola,” she says. “Feed manufacturers are seeing success, including Wenger Feeds in Pennsylvania who make hemp feed for Kreider Farms’ eggs. In the next year we hope to get some additional adoption by some larger players.”

Mosher highlights her company, New West Genetics, has been developing improved hemp varieties to double grain yield.

“We’ve got momentum in hemp as we are providing high yielding and adapted genetics for hemp production in the U.S., and the industry is also near the finish line on this feed approval,” she says. “It’s a moment we’ve been waiting on for 10 years. In the not so distant future, we hope to see hemp on the million acre scale.”

Find Trusted Partners To Help You Succeed With Hemp. Here’s One Way.

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:54:25 GMT

When you start a new endeavor, one of the best ways to learn how to succeed often comes from other people—those individuals who are willing to share their knowledge, resources and first-hand experiences with you.

That’s certainly true if you want to grow hemp in 2020 for the first time, or even if you’ve got a couple of years of production and marketing under your belt.

“The No. 1 piece of advice farmers are telling us is you have to know who you’re working with, and that can be hard to know sometimes. It can be tricky to identify those sketchy players and figure out your trusted partners—from purchasing your seed to processing, and all the way down the line,” Portia Stewart, Farm Journal content strategy director, producer media, told AgriTalk Host, Chip Flory, earlier this week.

One way to accomplish that is to attend a Farm Journal Hemp College this winter . Later this month, the company is hosting a nationally focused hemp program in Chicago, featuring industry speakers and farmers from around the U.S. To learn more information about the agenda and register for the Chicago event, click here: https://bit.ly/2QVqnsv .

The Hemp College is being held in conjunction with the Top Producer Seminar, Executive Women in Agriculture and the Legacy Project.

“Real farmers from across the United States will tell you their secrets to what has worked and what has not worked for them with hemp,” Stewart said. “You’re going to get detailed policy updates. You’re going to have an opportunity to network and talk to people who might be good partners and really suss out what hemp could be for you.

“We also like to level set and make sure that you know we’re giving you all the information available, so that you don’t get in over your head. It’s really about making a good choice for 2020 and beyond, if you’re taking a close look at this crop,” she added.

Some of the featured speakers and topics at the Chicago event include:

How to Grow Hemp: A Farmer’s Perspective
Speaker: Dion Oakes, Farmer, Monte Vista, Colo.

Best Practices for Tillage, Harvesting and Processing Hemp
Speaker: Corbett Hefner, VP Research & Development, Formation Ag

The Agronomics of Hemp Production from A to Z
Speaker: Bryan Parr, Legacy Hemp

Hemp Seed Genetics, Availability and Selection
Speaker: Jeff Kostuik, Director of Operations, Central Region, Hemp Genetics

Hemp’s Hefty Pitfalls
Speaker: Chris Adams, Adams Family Farm

Legislative Outlook for 2020
Speaker: Jonathan Miller, Frost Brown Todd Attorneys

Top Producer Summit 2020

Farm Succession Planning Gets A Boost From An Ethical Will

Paul Neiffer: Help, I Have An Ugly Return!

Coalition Seeks Farmer Support for Hemp Animal Feed Research

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:53:30 GMT

There’s a lot of discussion about the potential for hemp to be used in animal feed. While there are some animal feed products on the market that claim to use hemp, its use in animal nutrition is not legal.

The Hemp Feed Coalition is seeking legal approval from AAFCO and the FDA-CVM for animal producers to use hemp in animal diets. According to the Coalition, the biggest barrier is a lack of research.

“Most farmers who have been producing hemp do not test their crops for nutritional components, focusing instead on compliance,” Hunter Buffington of the Hemp Feed Coalition said in a press release. “The analysis needed for the animal feed industry and regulators goes far beyond THC concentration both in information and expense. To accurately understand the nutritional value of hemp we have to create a body of analysis that shows the amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals in hemp and its by-products. We also need enough data to show any potential genetic or environmental differences that result in different nutrient profiles.”

Want to learn more about Farm Journal Hemp College?

Visit: AgWeb.com/events/Hemp-College

The Coalition is looking for hemp growers willing to do component analysis of their crops and farmers willing to conduct clinical feed trials, including hemp.

“We must have three independent studies, with three rations and a minimum of 30 individuals to complete the trial for each species,” Buffington said. “In addition to the three rations the animals must also be harvested and tested for cannabinoid concentration, meat, egg or milk quality and potential toxicity.”

This year, the coalition gathered 14 proposals from eight Universities that wanted to do research on six species. One of these, a two-year study on lambs at Colorado State University using hempseed meal has been completely funded.

For more information about the Hemp Feed Coalition, visit https://www.bggives.org/friendsofhemp .

Perdue Answers Buzz on Hemp in Animal Feed

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:21:07 GMT

From fiber and oil to clothing and makeup, hemp products are hot. And now some are exploring whether hemp could be a useful ingredient in animal feed.

So what’s the Secretary of Agriculture’s take?

“Hemp in animal feed? I’m not aware of any uses of hemp in animal feed. I know there are other uses,” Sonny Perdue says with a chuckle. “But we’re trying to determine really what those individual uses are.”

While hemp currently isn’t an approved ingredient in animal feed, the Association of Association Feed Control Officials has invited the hemp industry to present information about hemp’s value in feed for scientific review. A high sign agriculture is moving on scientific research is Colorado Senate Bill 17-109, signed by Governor Hickenlooper, that establishes a study group to look at hemp’s possibilities for commercial feed.

Perdue, who worked as a veterinarian and small businessman before entering politics, says he has seen signs that hemp is a hot topic in ag this year—in part because of its new crop status outlined in the 2018 farm bill, which labels hemp with less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as a commercial crop.

“You know, there’s a good bit of hysteria about hemp, and our marketing regulatory program, Under Secretary (Greg) Ibach, fields more questions about hemp than probably anything in the farm bill,” Perdue says.

He concedes that feed could be a potential use.

“Feed, it possibly could be involved in there. That has not been one of the primary uses we’ve heard of. We hear a lot of industrial uses for it, but I think it remains to be seen if part of the product could be used in animal agriculture. Happy cows,” he jokes.

Read more about cannabis here:

> Five Fast Facts About Cannabis

> What’s the Farmer’s Role in Growing Hemp?

> From Drovers:

Facts and Fiction About Hemp in Animal Feed

> From Farm Journal’s PORK:

Could Cannabis Improve Pork Flavor? Weed-Fed Pigs Creating a Stir

PORK Poll: Could Marijuana in the Pig Diet Make a Difference?

Could Cannabis Improve Pork Flavor? Weed-Fed Pigs Creating Stir

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 01:12:00 GMT

Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this piece are those of the sources and do not represent the views of Farm Journa.

Pigs at Moto Perpetuo Farm aren’t getting high on cannabis, but some say their pork is better because of it. This integrated legal marijuana farming operation in Forest Grove, Ore., is not only raising cannabis-fed pigs, they’re also raising a few eyebrows.

Brent Young and Ben Turley, owners of The Meat Hook, a butcher shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., followed the process of “weed-fed pork” from pig to plate on Eater, a YouTube site for food and restaurant obsessives.

“Feeding byproducts of the legal marijuana industry is of interest to many in the pork industry,” says Anna Dilger, associate professor of meat science at the University of Illinois. “To my knowledge, there is no real research on this yet.”

Dilger says the interest in feeding byproducts of legal marijuana is two-fold.

“In addition to the scrap ag products (plants), there is also interest in the bakery waste leftover from making marijuana brownies or cookies,” Dilger says. “These are typically the edges or scraps that are not offered for sale or products that have gone stale.”

Although bakery waste is a common feed ingredient, Dilger says it’s an additional challenge when the bakery waste has THC in it. THC in the diet is of interest to some, scientifically, because the appetite stimulation by marijuana could increase feed intake in pigs.

Dave Hoyle, owner of Moto Perpetuo Farm, says, “We do feel that we see an increased appetite and the pigs seem to be gaining weight faster than the same breed fed a similar free-choice ration without the cannabis.”

However, he’s quick to note this is mostly anecdotal. His pigs also have free access to a grain diet and are frequently fed byproducts from his produce operation as well.

“Their diets vary by season,” Hoyle says. “Melons, tomatoes, etc., in the summertime and greens and roots in the wintertime. The amount of cannabis we feed fluctuates by the time of the year and the availability of material, due to production cycles. We can only feed material from our own state-licensed operation, making a consistent and quantifiable ration a wee bit tricky.”

So, how does this affect the end product? What does cannabis-fed pork taste like? In the video, Young and Turley followed Matthew Jarrell, executive chef at Imperial, a restaurant in Portland, Ore., around his kitchen as he prepared secreto – an uncommon cut of pork that their restaurant specializes in serving that ties back to Spain’s acorn-fattened pigs.

Chef Jarrell said the cannabis-fed pork does not impart the flavor of cannabis, from what they understand the flavor of cannabis to be.

“What I do taste is juicier pork, and a more resistant texture – there’s no mushiness involved,” Jarrell says.

Dustin Boler, associate professor of meat science at the University of Illinois, says the advanced age of the pigs (14 months old) is likely a factor when it comes to the pork texture.

“In my opinion that is more of a contributor to change in texture than the diet,” Boler says.

Although no controlled experiments were run, Boler agrees that it’s an interesting conversation.

“This is an area where producers are definitely curious about using these products,” Dilger says. “But we don’t have a lot of scientific information about how pigs will react to these ingredients and how pork will change as a result.”

Read more about cannabis here:

Lighter Side: This Little Piggy Ate Pot

PORK Poll: Could Marijuana in the Pig Diet Make a Difference?

> From Bovine Veterinarian:

Cannabis in Veterinary Medicine

> From Drovers:

Facts and Fiction About Hemp in Animal Feed