Irish Examiner│Irish grown plant protein from hemp seeds

First published in the Irish Examiner on 14 March.

Hemp isn’t the kind of crop you expect to find growing on a farm in Co Offaly. However, once Helen Bracken, of Fox Covert Farm, explains that it’s a nutritional food and sustainable crop, you’ll want to know more about it.

“We are predominantly tillage farmers,” she says, “and we grow 10-18 acres of hemp every year as a rotation crop.”

Bracken, who works with her husband, Joe, and their son, Kieran, on their farm in Kilcormac, says that in 2020 a message in Joe’s IFA group asked if anyone would be interested in growing hemp. They began researching it and became intrigued by hemp’s environmental credentials. Bracken, who had previously worked off-farm in insurance and engineering, before losing her job due to the pandemic, decided to investigate. Patience was key. “It took us four years from the start to getting the products [milled hemp seeds and shelled hemp hearts] onto shelves, but now we’re stocked in selected SuperValus, Evergreen health shops, locally and online as well.”

Hemp has a long history in Ireland. Grown in the past to make rope and cloth, it was touted as a home-grown fibre for making paper in the 1960s, and in the 1990s for MDF (medium-density fibreboard. It might now have a new chapter as a nutritious food for humans.

Hemp seeds are high in magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, fibre, omegas 3 and 6, and fibre in the milled format (42g per 100g). When the seeds are shelled, they contain 32g protein per 100g.

Although you wouldn’t necessarily tuck into 100g of hemp seeds in one sitting, to get an idea of how it compares to other protein sources, beef has 22.5g protein per 100g, chicken breast between 25g-30g/100g and eggs come in at 15g/100g.

Ireland does not grow much plant protein for human use, with only small pockets of peas, beans and lentils produced nationwide. The recent EU-funded Smart Protein project, co-ordinated by University College Cork, focused on the growth of alternative protein ingredients that could have a positive environmental impact.

Quinoa and fava beans — also known as faba or broad beans — were chosen for the trial, and both proved suitable for Irish growing conditions (particularly fava). Although the protein levels of the quinoa and fava grown for that experiment are not known, the nearest equivalent — quinoa and fava beans grown in Britain sold through Holland & Barrett shops — have 15g and 29g protein, respectively, per 100g.

So the shelled hemp seeds compare favourably to Irish-grown vegetables in providing protein for human consumption, but the plants are also incredibly good at capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide: “While the crop is growing, it is sequestering CO2 and purifying air, between two and four times more effectively than trees, which is really amazing for the environment,” she says.

So why is more hemp not being grown in Ireland, and why aren’t we eating more of it? As a Teagasc worksheet on industrial hemp production from 2020 points out: “Licensing and the lack of an end market have been the main obstacles so far.” Bracken outlines her experience: “We have to apply for a special licence every year. We need to have our co-ordinates exactly marking where it will be going, and it can’t be grown close to the road or a town.”

This is because hemp, with its distinctive leaves, is also known as cannabis sativa. The Teagasc worksheet usefully clarifies that “only cultivars with less than 0.2% THC, the narcotic component of cannabis, may be grown for fibre and seed oil production in the EU”.

At Fox Covert Farm, they grow the crop under licence from the Department of Health, following strict guidelines for growing and harvesting hemp seed. This process involves regular testing and inspections at every stage of growing, harvesting and processing.

Growing hemp is one thing, but what Teagasc called “the lack of an end market” was another part of the puzzle that had to be solved. In Bracken’s initial research, she was impressed with the nutrient profile of the seeds. “The nutrition end of things just blew me away completely,” she says. “The milled hemp is especially good for vegans and vegetarians, because it is high in vitamin B12 and iron.” Deciding to keep all elements of the hemp seed production on the farm, the Brackens invested in a processing unit so that the harvest could be dried, cleaned, shelled and milled in-house. This approach cuts down on transportation and enables them to guarantee that their hemp is of single-farm origin.

While people may have come across imported hemp seeds in health shops, bringing this new Irish product to market involves educating customers, and that is where the whole family gets pulled in.

Helen and Joe Bracken also have three grown-up daughters, Lena, Teresa and Aideen, who help out at events like the recent CATEX Foodservice and Hospitality trade show. They explain what hemp is, how it grows naturally without pesticides, fungicides and herbicides on the family farm, and they get potential customers to taste the result. With a light, nutty and creamy flavour, the hemp hearts took a gold star at last year’s Great Taste Awards.

Both the hearts and the milled version are versatile and easy to use. Bracken includes hemp in her brown bread to add flavour and nutrition; it can be sprinkled over porridge or yoghurt, baked into flapjacks and brownies or added to smoothies and protein balls.

As she continues to investigate alternative uses for this intriguing plant and introduce it to more consumers, Bracken plans to produce hemp oil by the end of this year and, after that, hemp protein powder. One step at a time, this farm-to-fork enterprise is proving the value of diversifying sustainably by examining Ireland’s farming history to move forward and produce foods with high nutritional value.

Milled hemp seeds, €3.80/120g, shelled hemp hearts, €4.85/120g. www.foxcovertfarm.ie