Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80% of the world with its products and services, announced that the company has made a strategic investment in Driftless Extracts LLC, a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-certified organic hemp producer, processor and ingredient supplier based in Wisconsin.
Driftless Extracts has seen tremendous growth in recent years with increasing awareness and demand from consumers and businesses for hemp-based solutions. Kemin’s equity stake in Driftless Extracts brings the global company’s quality reputation and customer and industry expertise to the hemp producer and processor’s cultivation experience and portfolio of organic hemp-based ingredients.
As part of the partnership, Kemin has entered into a supply agreement with Driftless Extracts related to various hemp-based products. Through this partnership, Kemin Human Nutrition and Health will expand its current offering of hemp-based ingredients with the addition of Driftless Extracts’ full-spectrum hemp ingredients for the health and wellness market in the United States and globally. The United States retail hemp-cannabidiol (CBD) market is currently valued at $803 million with growth expected to reach $1.2 billion in 2023, according to Nutrition Business Journal.
Through its engagement with Kemin, Driftless Extracts will be able to accelerate its vision to revitalize agriculture with hemp as a centerpiece to a renewable future. The company operates from a LEED-certified Gold facility in Wisconsin and aims to establish a renewable materials industry within the Great Lakes manufacturing sector that marries natural hemp materials and manufacturing. Having already established dozens of renewable hemp products, including cannabinoids (extracts, powders) and various hemp-fiber products, Driftless Extracts is working with local farmers to create a sustainable natural materials market for large-scale agricultural hemp production.
