Agricultural Scientists Receive USDA Grant to Explore Hemp as a Sustainable Alternative to Grain in Animal Feed
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (June 9, 2023) — Scientists and agriculturalists started cultivating grain thousands of years ago, and society hasn’t stopped finding uses for it since. It’s a culinary staple the world over, a core component of animal feed, and it’s even become critical to bioenergy production. But some experts say the resource is being spread too thin, putting a strain on global supply chains and growing demand for animal-sourced food. Climate change and calls for sustainability further complicate the landscape, suggesting that it’s time for today’s agronomists to start cultivating alternative sources for some of society’s agricultural staples and feed for their animals.Negusse Kidane, Ph.D., assistant professor and research scientist in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Human Ecology at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) responded to that call with a proposal to research the potential for biomass from hemp plants to serve as an alternative source for the grain used in animal feed, which consumes ~36% of the world’s grain supply. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded Dr. Kidane a $299,162 grant to conduct a three-year study on the nutritional profile of industrial hemp plant biomass by-products, and their impact on goats, and to determine if hemp biomass can serve as a viable alternative feed that could reduce the use of grain in animal feed.
The project could have positive implications for the environment and certain economic sectors, while laying foundational knowledge for a hemp plant and its biomass that could become a vector for continuous scientific and social iteration.