How Will the AAFCO Vote on Hemp Grain Affect the Industry?

Members of the American Association of Feed Control Officials are scheduled to vote early next month on hemp seed meal as an ingredient for laying hens.

Pretty standard stuff, according to the group’s executive director, Austin Therrell.

“It’s one of the big things that our association does to promote harmonization and uniformity when it comes to defining ingredients and ingredient standards that all the state regulators across the U.S. recognize,” he said.

Therrell is one of the guests on this week’s hemp podcast who weighs in on the planned vote, which has the potential to crack open the market for hemp seed meal, albeit a very small crack.

Oilseed crops in general need a secondary market for the byproduct — the cake or meal — of crushing seeds for oil.

Hemp seed has been used as an animal feed for thousands of years, but because it was prohibited in the U.S. when the feed control systems were put in place, it has remained illegal to feed to commercial livestock.

The association’s vote in August has the potential to change all that by allowing commercial flocks of laying hens to be fed hemp seed meal.

For Nebraska farmer and equipment manufacturer Andrew Bish, laying hens are a good start, but just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to opportunity.

One of the reasons Bish got involved in hemp was to help create a new rotational crop opportunity for farmers.

“Egg-laying chickens is 670,000 needed acres of hemp just to satisfy 5% of the egg laying chicken population,” he said.

But that’s not enough to be a rotational crop.

“Start to add in beef cattle and broiler chickens,” he said, “and now we’re talking about needing over 7 million acres.”

“That is a true rotational crop opportunity. That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal for corn farmers. That’s a big deal for soybean farmers. That’s a big deal for wheat farmers.”

Bish is the president of the Hemp Feed Coalition, the group that is spearheading the initiative to get hemp meal approved for layers.

But not everyone is happy with the proposed ingredient definition.

What’s the issue?

You guessed it: Cannabinoids.

The proposed ingredient definition caps allowable THC at 2 parts per million and 20 parts per million for CBD.

The feed control association received letters from hemp advocacy groups around the world to express their concerns, including groups from Canada, Australia, Europe and the United States.

Lancaster Farming requested to see the letters and AAFCO obliged.

Some letters were in support of the new definition, but others telegraphed fear that these cannabinoid limits will set a worldwide precedent and disrupt current and future markets because producers will have trouble consistently meeting the new definition.

Those against the new definition would like to see the THC limit raised to 10 parts per million and the CBD limit removed altogether.

Those in favor of the definition recognize the years of work it took to get hemp seed meal this close to any kind of approval, which will pave the way for approval for other livestock categories.

They also say that there is a standard amendment procedure to change an ingredient definition after it’s been approved.

Those against are asking AAFCO to change the definition before the vote, but that’s not how the process works.

If the association votes no on hemp seed meal next month, there is no way to appeal the decision.

The expensive and extensive process would have to start all over again, Therrell said.

“So if (AAFCO) membership completely voted it down,” he said, “a submitter would need to start back from the beginning to hopefully resolve any issues or concerns that our membership had,” he said.

“I don’t know if it gives you any kind of level of confidence, but in my time with AAFCO, I haven’t seen that happen completely. Not to say that it can’t, but I think it’s got a pretty good shot at moving forward,” Therrell said.

Kentucky hemp pioneer Joe Hickey, one of the signers of the letter from a group in opposition to the new definition, is also a guest on this week’s show.

Hickey said the infighting among the factions of the hemp industry is beside the point.

For Hickey, the real problem is the Food and Drug Administration.

“You got the FDA that allows cigarettes to be put out and you get a half a million people who’re dying from it,” he said.

“And they allow that to happen, but something that doesn’t hurt anybody, that actually helps people, they’re trying to stop.”