HFGA US/EU Decorticated Fiber Standard

This standard specifies grade classification, contamination limits, packaging, traceability, and test methods for baled decorticated hemp bast fiber supplied as a commodity intermediate. It applies to material as it leaves a decortication line, before cottonizing, degumming, carding, or any textile or composite conversion.

• Applies to: decorticated and cleaned hemp bast fiber, field-retted or unretted, baled for sale or transfer — whether destined for textile, construction, composite, or technical use.
• Does not apply to: whole stalk bales prior to decortication, hurd and shive sold as a primary product, cottonized or degummed fiber presented for spinning (see HFGA-TX-US-01 / HFGA-TX-EU-01), or any finished product.
• Applies in both the United States and the European Union. Material requirements are identical in both; Clause 4 and Clause 8 carry the jurisdiction-specific requirements.
• Conformity is assessed per lot and attaches to the lot ID, never to a company, facility, or brand.

• HFGA-VER-01 — HFGA Verification Scheme Rules (verification levels, evidence, non-conformance).
• HFGA-PCP-00 — Product Conformance Profile template.
• HFGA-TM-01 — Gravimetric determination of residual hurd, foreign matter, and synthetic contamination.
• 7 CFR Part 990 — USDA Domestic Hemp Production Program (US feedstock, Clause 4).
• Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 — CAP Strategic Plans Regulation, Article 4(4) (EU feedstock, Clause 4).
• Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH), Annex XVII (EU restricted substances, Clause 8).
• ASTM D1447 / EN ISO 2370 — fiber length and fineness determination.
• ASTM D2495 / EN ISO 6741-1 — moisture determination.
• ISO 1130 — Textile fibres: sampling methods for testing.
• ISO/IEC 17025 — Competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

Feedstock requirements are the only material difference between the two jurisdictions. A lot shall satisfy the column for the market it is placed on; a lot placed on both shall satisfy both.

Fiber is classified into one of three grades by measured properties. A lot takes the highest grade for which every parameter conforms; a single failing parameter demotes the lot to the next grade for which all parameters conform.

Colour is declared rather than limited. Field retting produces golden brown through grey depending on weather exposure, and the variation carries no quality implication for the applications in Clause 13 — but a buyer blending across lots needs to know it in advance.

• Feedstock shall be dried to ≤ 15% moisture before decortication. Wet stalk produces hurd carryover that no downstream cleaning stage recovers.
• Decortication shall not raise fiber temperature above 120°C at any stage.
• Retting is permitted but not required. Retted and unretted material shall not be blended within a lot, since they behave differently in every downstream process.
• Line changeover between feedstock sources ends a decortication campaign and starts a new lot under Clause 10.
• Cleaning stages — dedusting, opening, secondary separation — shall be declared on the lot record, since they determine the achievable hurd and dust figures in Clause 5.

This is the clause most often failed, and the failure is unrecoverable. Synthetic wrap fed through a decorticator shreds into the fiber and cannot be separated downstream — it ruins the lot for textile use, defeats any microplastic-free claim made on a finished product, and introduces melt and fire behaviour that construction applications cannot tolerate.

1. 1.All farm bale wrap, netting, and twine — plastic or otherwise — shall be removed from the stalk bale before the material enters the decortication line. Removal at the line, not upstream, is the practice that fails.
2. 2.Wrap removal shall be a recorded step in the process record, not an assumed one.
3. 3.Baling twine used on the finished fiber bale shall be captured in the Clause 9 packaging declaration, so a downstream user knows what is present and can remove it.
4. 4.DF-A and DF-B: synthetic contamination shall not be detected in a 1 kg sample examined under HFGA-TM-01 gravimetric separation with visual inspection at 10× magnification.
5. 5.DF-C: synthetic contamination shall not exceed 50 mg/kg by the same method.
6. 6.Metal detection or magnetic separation shall be applied before baling where the decortication line handles field-collected material.

Limits apply to fiber as delivered. Testing frequency is set in Clause 11.

• Fiber shall be baled in square bales. Bale mass shall be declared and shall fall within 135–275 kg (300–600 lb) unless the purchase agreement specifies otherwise.
• Bales shall be wrapped in a clear sleeve or wrap permitting visual inspection of the fiber without opening. Opaque wrap defeats incoming inspection and is not permitted.
• Wrap and strapping material shall be declared on the label so a downstream user can remove and segregate it.
• Bales shall be stored under cover, off the ground, and protected from rewetting between baling and delivery.
• Every bale shall carry a durable label showing: the lot ID under Clause 10, the grade, bale mass, moisture at baling, retting state, colour declaration, and the producer or processor identifier.
• Where the lot is declared under a Product Conformance Profile, the label shall also carry the profile designation. It shall not carry a product name in place of the grade.

1. 1.Lot ID format: HFGA-DF-<country>-<year>-<processor ID>-<campaign sequence>. The ID is physically tagged on every bale in the lot.
2. 2.Feedstock record: producer identifier and licence or parcel reference, variety and seed lot, harvest date, straw moisture at intake, retting state.
3. 3.Process record: decortication line and campaign dates, drying method, cleaning stages applied, wrap-removal confirmation per Clause 7.
4. 4.Transfer record: a chain-of-custody document signed at every change of ownership, referencing the lot ID and mass transferred.
5. 5.Mass balance: input straw mass to output fiber plus hurd plus dust shall reconcile within ±3%.
6. 6.Retention: three years from final sale in the US, five years in the EU, matching the corresponding textile standards.

Sampling follows ISO 1130, drawing from a minimum of 10% of bales in the lot with a minimum of three bales. Composition testing shall be performed by a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, or by a processor's own laboratory where the lot is declared at verification level L1 or L2 under HFGA-VER-01.

Where a buyer's incoming inspection disputes a declared grade, a referee test at a mutually agreed accredited laboratory is decisive, with cost borne by the party whose result is overturned.

• The permitted claim form is: "Conforms to HFGA US/EU Decorticated Fiber Standard (HFGA-DF-01), Grade DF-B" — always naming the standard code, version, and grade.
• Where the lot is declared under a registered profile, the claim may name the product: "<Product name> is registered to <profile designation>, declaring conformity to HFGA-DF-01 Grade DF-B. Lot <lot ID> verified <date>."
• Conformity attaches to a tested lot or a registered product, never to a company, facility, or brand.
• A DF grade claim does not imply a textile grade claim. Refined fiber is re-tested and re-graded under HFGA-TX-US-01 or HFGA-TX-EU-01 with its own lot ID.
• Reading this standard, declaring conformity, and using the mark are free. Independent verification by HFGA under HFGA-VER-01 is a paid service.
• HFGA may withdraw a claim licence where a claim is made without a supporting record, and will publish the withdrawal.

Decorticated fiber is a multi-functional intermediate: the same bale can become yarn, insulation, or a composite panel. This clause is informative — it maps grades to the routes they are normally suitable for, and does not add requirements.

• Maintained by the HFGA Standards Technical Committee, with grower, decorticator, mill, construction-products, and laboratory representation.
• Issued for a 60-day public comment period before ratification. Every comment receives a written disposition.
• Reviewed on a three-year cycle, or sooner where feedstock law or test-method availability changes in either jurisdiction.
• Because this document serves two markets, a change affecting only one jurisdiction is made in the relevant column of Clause 4 or Clause 8, never by forking the document.
• Comments to standards@hfga.io.