France’s sole approved provider of licensed hemp planting seed has new management after its long-time director left the group earlier this month.
Hemp-It, extensively seen as Europe’s flagship cooperative in licensed hemp seed, appointed Dominique Ego as its new director following outgoing director Christophe Février’s transfer to chief govt of Fleuron d’Anjou, a horticulture cooperative.
Ego arrives at Hemp-It with greater than a decade of expertise within the agricultural sector. He started his profession in 2014 with the Normandy cooperative OrigenPlus, later turning into director of genetics for the Altitude group after which basic supervisor of UALC, a cooperative devoted to bovine genetics.
The change in management, reported by Ouest France, took impact on Sept. 15.
A hempseed monopoly
Based in 1964, Hemp-It’s engaged in breeding, seed certification, and R&D in addition to worldwide partnerships. The cooperative has reported fast growth over the previous decade; it now consists of 155 producers throughout western and central-western France – in Maine-et-Loire, Vienne, Deux-Sèvres, Indre-et-Loire, and Sarthe – and has round 50 workers.
Hemp-It, together with the Coopérative Centrale des Producteurs de Semences de Chanvre (CCPSC), dominates the French marketplace for licensed hemp planting seed via unique authorization that offers it a de facto monopoly. The co-op additionally exerts broad affect over hemp farming throughout Europe by controlling the extremely standard French hemp varieties – that are additionally offered additional overseas.
Hemp-It handles the multiplication, cleansing, certification, and gross sales of seed, whereas CCPSC, created in 1965, offers the structural framework that centralizes and coordinates seed manufacturing and varietal improvement. Hemp-It focuses completely on licensed hemp varieties for grain and fiber cultivation and doesn’t produce CBD or flower-type varieties.
Février’s decade
Beneath Février’s management – he spent a decade on the co-op – Hemp-It invested €13.2 million in new services in Beaufort-en-Anjou, together with a manufacturing unit, laboratory, and headquarters; reported turnover quadrupled between 2014 and 2024.
Hemp-It additionally introduced a €2.3 million mission in 2024 to construct a protein extraction plant, anticipated to open this yr, that can diversify revenues in meals, feed, and cosmetics.
