The Hemp Bedding Initiative (www.hempbedding.org) is the online store and web presence of American Natural Materials, formerly Chanvra Materials. The purpose of this website and the Initiative is to drive the development of industrial hemp farming in America by generating massive demand for hemp hurds, particularly hemp bedding for animals. We are also a seasoned distributor of hemp fibers and specialize in nonwoven matting, which we have been supplying to many customers since 2017. These can be 100% hemp or blended with other fibers, both natural and synthetic. These mats have diverse applications, ranging from automotive components to growing medium for trees & vegetables. This website includes information about all of our products and applications.
We are certain that industrial hemp has an important role to play in the revival of America and the development and improvement of sustainable agricultural practices. At our farm we are planting hemp and other fiber crops, and experimenting with regenerative agricultural techniques that incorporate these traditional bast fibers. Growing hemp is good for the water and good for the soil, and it helps other crops that grow in rotation with it.
Presently all of the hemp that we sell is produced in France. They have the best hemp farming traditions there, and the most stable and consistent supply- in terms of quality and availability- that our diverse customers have required.
Since the beginning we have been eager to transition our sourcing to American grown materials. We’ve realized that the best way we can make this a reality is to help bring the French hemp farming traditions to America. We are now actively transitioning our famous Aubiose brand to American-grown, although we expect the process to take years.
In any case, we are certain that the greatest possible impact we can have is to help generate as massive of a demand for hemp bedding in particular as possible.
We have met so many horse owners and animal owners over the years to know that, as popular as hemp bedding for animals has become, we’re still only scratching the surface of how many people can be so powerfully affected by the power of this incredible material. It is without a doubt the most easily accessible high volume market for a hemp industry in America, once it really catches on how many lives can be changed by this stuff. We are the perfect network to get this information out there with the amount of animal owners and influencers we have met and brought into our network over the years.
The reason that hemp bedding and hurds in particular will have such an impact on the development of American hemp farming is that hemp hurds take up 70% of the usable fiber of the plant on average, so finding a market for them is the true limiting factor to a successful hemp farming operation. This is why it’s been so tricky and taken so long to get a scalable hemp supply going in America. In our ancestors times, when hemp farming was common, things were different. The hurds were formerly just a waste / byproduct from the textile and paper industries. It wasn’t until 1985, with the creation of the Aubiose brand, that the hemp hurds themselves were actually transformed into a usable and marketable product.
While the tradition of farming hemp in France almost died- as it did in America- it actually just barely survived, and the only way those Aubiose farmers- who were really the original comeback hemp farming pioneers of the 20th century- were going to be able to withstand the economic pressure of the changing world of the mid-late 20th century was to find a market for the entire hemp plant, including the hemp hurds, as well as the valuable bast fibers (the traditional material for textiles). And that’s what they did and that’s how the Aubiose brand was born. The model they developed was the model that defined hemp farming in the west up to the present day, and will probably continued to do so. It was an enormous step that probably saved a hemp industry that was dying.
Now hemp farming is the perfect middle ground answer to a lot of the unique problems we face today. It’s an obvious answer to many important “sustainability” questions that requires no force or any of the ugly greenwashed agendas of globalism. Industrial hemp is a natural answer that appeals to everyone. It’s sustainability that doesn’t force us to give up our values. It’s sustainability that nature and our founders intended. And I’d say it’s a great rallying point for the greater responsibility we have as citizens and stewards of this land.
