Manitoba Harvest:
Pioneering the “Hemp for Food”
Movement
By Kat Schuett
Eating hemp won’t get you “high,” but it will make you healthier. In fact, you’d get about the same drug euphoria from the THC in a hemp brownie as you would get from the opium in your standard lemon poppyseed muffin—
except with the brownie you’re also getting
a good source of omega essential fats,
hypoallergenic protein with all 11 amino
acids, and several other key nutrients.
While the fact that hemp is not the same thing as
pot is no news to some of you (especially those who
have tried to smoke your hemp socks), it hasn’t always
been (and still isn’t) common knowledge for all. Up
until 11 years ago, hemp was banned from being
grown for food or fiber throughout North America
because some bureaucrats thought that hemp was the
same thing as its cannabis cousin, marijuana.
This all changed when a group of “hemprenuers” from Canada saw the potential for this
healthy, super sustainable crop and stepped in to push for the legalization of industrial hemp.
After years of bushwhacking through political red tape and public misunderstanding, the first
farmer-owned, vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer in North America, Manitoba Harvest Seed & Oil, was formed.
Due in large part to efforts from Manitoba Harvest, hemp has become one of the fastest growing functional health foods. According to data from SPINs, sales of hemp have grown by over 50
percent in each of the past two years. Research from Nielsen confirms this trend, naming hemp
as a key “good for you” food category that is getting consistent year-over-year sales gains. Vote
Hemp, an advocacy group that promotes reestablishment of hemp agriculture in the U.S., estimates that consumers in America alone will purchase $300 million in hemp products this year.
