Hemp Industry Association President's EIHA Report

By Anndrea Hermann
Source: thehia.org

The HIA Member Newsletter
June 26, 2013

On May 22-23. 2013 the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA pronounced AHA) held its 10th Annual International Conference at the Rheinforum, Wesseling, Germany. The conference was sponsored by Hempro International and was organized by the nova-Institute. The EIHA was created 10 years ago, so that the European Hemp Industry and its members would have a voice at the table of the European Commission (EC) in Brussels. The presence of the EIHA at the EC has been vital to the advancement of hemp in the EU.

The 10th annual meeting of EIHA was focused on the latest developments concerning hemp and other natural fibres as well as hemp foods stuffs (human and animal). This year's congress drew in a record number of delegates totally at least 151 from 28 different countries. This was equated to the increased market place interest and to the many new re-introduction programs for cultivation of hemp happening around the world. The programme was broken down into eight sessions: Country reports, Hemp textiles, Hemp seeds and oils for food, Hemp building & insulation material, Bio-Composites, Agriculture & fibre decortication and the final session was dedicated to the Multihemp project.

During the conference I had the great honor of not only representing the HIA's members as your President but was asked to present, as the lead instructor, about Oregon State University's Ecampus offering of the world's first for credit university level course (WSE266) focused on Industrial Hemp.

Prof. Anndrea Hermann presenting WSE266, OSU at the EIHA 10th. Photo credit: Michal Tozser

HIA is proud to be a Promoting Partner of the EIHA and ask you to mark your calendars for May 21-22, 2014 for the 11th Annual EIHA Conference. In attendance this year where fellow Hemp Industries Association (HIA) members, Shaun Crew of Hemp Oil Canada Inc.Hemp Oil Canada Inc. and John Roulac of Nutiva along with Markus Schmulgen, President of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (our Canadian sister trade association). John Roulac presented in the Hemp Seeds and Oil for Food Section on Superfood Trends and about the current status of hemp in the USA featuring the efforts of both the HIA and Vote Hemp. I was very pleased to meet Mr. and Mrs. Sutton upon my arrival, they had traveled from the great hemp state of Kentucky to learn more about industrial hemp processing, marketing, cultivation and to network with the European and international hemp industry.

At this year's conference the EIHA released its latest survey report on The European Hemp Industry: Cultivation, processing and applications for fibres, shivs and seeds - March 2013 (PDF) that included 800 participates input on the market data of industrial hemp fibres, shivs (hurd) and seeds/grain. This was the EIHA's first comprehensive survey and is now the most detailed market analysis report of the European hemp industry to date. The report included 10,480 ha (25,900ac) of hemp cultivation area, 14 hemp processors and two hemp associations. It concluded that of the 26,000MT of hemp fibre processed in 2010, 55% of that went to Pulp and Paper, 25.9% into insulation material and 13.9% into RTM (non-automotive) with the remaining into mouldings, mulch & cress fleece (matting) and into other technical textile applications. While of the 6,000MT of hemp grain/seeds harvested 67.2% of it was used as whole grain/seed for animal feed with only a 15.4% was sold as an Oil:Food. Of the estimated 14,000 ha (34,590 acres) of the hemp grown in the EU during 2012 only 5-15% of it was processed into food or animal feed while the remaining 95-85% was processed for fibre. These percentages are pretty much opposite for that of the North American market, with that said new fibre processing and supply projects that are underway will aid in changing that N.A. statistic.

New research was presented by Mr. Boris Banas, of Propaganda Productions, Slovakia that examined the change in the fats of hemp grain that is germinated and then processed into food i.e. oil and powder products. This process and research finding are still being evaluated but the preliminary results have shown that germinating hemp for further processing into foods may prove to be a nutritious and marketable product.

The final session on the Multihemp project was chaired by Dr. Stefano Amaducci (long time hemp researcher) of the Universita Cattolica del Scaro Cuore, Institute of Agronomy and Field Crops, Italy. This project consist of 5 different areas of hemp research from Economics (Michael Carus, nova-Institut Germany), Fibre Grading (Prof. Dr. Jorg Mussig, University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Germany), Foods (Prof. Simon McQueen, University of York, Great Britain), Hemp Mechanization (Dr. Han-Jorg Gusovious, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Germany) and Hemp Breeding (Dr. Luisa Trindad, Wageningen University, The Netherlands). After the conference I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Han-Jorg Gusovious and colleagues at the site of a 130+ hemp variety trial being conducted in The Netherlands as part of the Multihemp project (see the picture).

Dr. Han-Jorg Gusovious at the Multihemp 130+ hemp variety trial in The Netherlands.

Here is a candid shot taken by Shaun Crew of a few of us Happy EIHA Hempsters!
Photo credit: Shaun Crew, Hemp Oil Canada Inc.