Moment’s ago, AAFCO, the Association of American Feed Control Officials voted at their annual meeting to approve hemp seed meal for laying hens as a ‘Tentative Ingredient Definition’ which will now allow the material to be used in commercial feed.  This vote is the first approval for any hemp ingredient to be used for commercial animal feed and is the culmination of more than 4 years of work by the Hemp Feed Coalition, a national organization founded and operated to support the research and applications necessary to consider hemp as a new animal feed ingredient. While hemp seed ingredients such as hemp hearts, hemp protein and hemp seed oil have been legal for human consumption and in the marketplace for 20+ years, they have not been approved for feeding to animals.

IND HEMP, a leading industrial hemp processor in Montana announced today following the successful vote the launch of their Hemptana® branded ‘Optimal Omega’ Laying Hen Feed, which incorporates hemp seed meal in a 17% protein high omega layer formula.

“It has been a long road to get here over the past 4 years and we are excited to finally be making progress and able to introduce this ingredient into a feed product. We know that hemp seeds contain superior nutrition attributes including protein containing all 21 amino acids and has an optimal balanced Omega 6:3 ration of 3 to 1 and has shown to increase the omega’s and nutrients in the egg”  Share’s Morgan Tweet, CEO of IND HEMP and Executive Director of the Hemp Feed Coalition

“We are excited to be a first mover with this ingredient and the launch of our Hemptana® branded product demonstrates that not only is this ingredient viable for formulation and commerce as a branded product, but also that there are company’s like IND HEMP who produce and supply this material at scale, tested to the specifications of the ingredient definition and we are ready and motivated to work with and support formulators, brands and nutritionists in incorporating hemp seed meal into laying hen rations across the country’ Tweet continues.

Passage of the AAFCO  definition as ‘tentative’ allows the ingredient to be used in commerce in those states that recognize the ingredient in that stage of definition, yet will not start the process to fully adopted into the official AAFCO registry of ingredients until the next meeting later this year The State of Montana recognizes the tentative definition and MT Dept of Ag feed control has already reviewed and approved the Hemptana Laying Hen Feed label for sale in the State. Hemptana will launch locally in Montana with existing Hemptana retail partners such as North 40 Outfitters, Murdoch’s Ranch and Home and Shipton’s Big R and will launch the product to a larger audience at the Mid-States Distribution Farm and Ranch tradeshow in Phoenix later this month.

IND HEMP is a family owned, mission driven Certified B Corp based in Montana that produces and supplies industrial hemp food, FEED and fiber ingredients and materials. IND HEMP supports local farm families and rural communities by producing and supplying the natural materials to make products and industry more sustainable, while regenerating the earth with agriculture. Our team works every step from agronomy and crop production through product development, manufacture and delivery of high quality branded products and wholesale materials and ingredients.

Hemptana® is a brand of Farm and Ranch products, Grown In Montana and sold across the country producing premium hemp bedding, a line of equine supplements and chicken products including bedding, nesting mats and now Optimal Omega Laying Hen Feed.