Hemp as organic protein source for pigs and poultry

Hemp contains valuable sources of protein and fat, with high content of amino acids such as Methionine, Lysine, Cystine and Treonine and high content of valuable fatty acids such as omega 3 and 6 etc. The task is to demonstrate if we can grow organic hemp for seed production in Denmark and in this way be able to produce organic protein in sufficient amounts to cover the needs for organic protein for organic pig and poultry production.

Questions to address these challenges are: Will hemp seeds mature under Danish conditions? Can we achieve a sufficient yield of a high quality which will be economically sustainable for the farmers to produce? Which barriers do we have to overcome? These include development of an efficient technique for harvesting seeds, a capacity to process the seeds in fractions of hemp protein cake and an oil fraction, as well as collection of the hemp straw and use this for fiber purposes. Development of a sufficient market to make the whole value chain from field to the market economically beneficial for all the parties in the value chain is another challenge. In short will hemp seed be part of the solution to supply organic produced protein for the pigs and poultry in the future?

In the project in cooperation between Knowledge Center for Agriculture and AgroTech, we have carried out field trials with organic hemp for seed production in 2010, and we have achieved valuable experiences for further investigations. We have carried out several analyses and tests of the quality of the hemp seed and the hemp cake, and the hemp cake has been tested in a small feeding trial for slaughter pigs.

Presentation held at the Eco Amino Conference, Koldkaergaard. November 4, 2010.