Hempseed meal – also referred to as seedcake – is in a surreal regulatory no-man’s land.  We refer to the by-product of hempseed crushing as meal, consistent with other agricultural crops.  Hempseed meal isn’t an exotic feed ingredient, it is a valuable protein source that can supplant much or all of the soybean meal that comprises the vast majority of livestock feeds.  It will also compete with other popular by-product protein components like cottonseed and sunflower meal if pricing dips below $300/ton.  More research on hemp’s role in typical crop rotations could drive hemp production – and hemp pricing – considerably if findings are consistent with existing reports of hemp’s positive contribution to rotations.

 The regulatory status of hempseed meal is a vestige of decades of prohibition.  It just didn’t need to go through the resource…