NHA and HFC partner to advance hemp as animal feed

Today the National Hemp Association (NHA) and the Hemp Feed Coalition (HFC) announced the formation of a mutually beneficial partnership to accelerate the goal of each organization to obtain approvals for hemp as an animal feed ingredient.

NHA and HFC are motivated to benefit the entire industry by opening new markets for hemp and its co-products by gaining federal approval for its use as an animal feed ingredient. Historically they have successfully worked on projects together and recognize the opportunity to share resources and expand the footprint of advocacy and education centered around hemp as a nutritious animal feed product.

“The superior nutritional profile of hemp has long been known and hemp has a long history of use as animal feed prior to its prohibition. Especially now when animal feed shortages are a looming problem, we need to get hemp recognized as an official feed ingredient. We are excited to be working with the experts at HFC to make it happen”, said Erica Stark, Executive Director of National Hemp Association.

“The hemp industry is at a critical point where we need regulators and policy makers to recognize the existing, well documented science surrounding the safety and efficacy around hemp ingredients for feed. We need them to work collectively and proactively with industry to open the US feed markets, many of which are open in other places in the world. We believe a strategic partnership between NHA and HFC will provide the leadership needed to have constructive and informative discussions with these parties as well as continue the effort of supporting research and applications,” says Morgan Tweet, Executive Director of the Hemp Feed Coalition.

HFC will bring their expertise and experience with coordinating animal research and completing animal feed ingredient applications while NHA will provide administrative support, advocacy, and outreach. The pathway to ingredient approval for hemp and its co-products is time consuming and complicated. This partnership will help with the sharing of resources and result in a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.