It is a dream green building material. Why are farmers not interested?
The mixing of hemp and lime binder makes green builders drool. This insulating material is called hemp concrete and can resist mold, fire and pests. It lasts forever (or close enough). It absorbs carbon. It is commonly used in buildings in Europe and Canada. With sustainable building materials worth billions of dollars, it may also take off here.
But few farmers in the United States grow hemp for this purpose. They grow hemp for CBD, bioplastics, food and mulch. They will grow hemp for cat litter. But not for hempcrete, it uses a different crop, called fiber, from the more popular variety of CBD cannabinoids to produce CBD. There is no market for hemp concrete, and there is a dilemma.
Farmers need reliable customers and economies of scale. They need to live near the processing center-there are almost no facilities in the country-otherwise they will have to pay a lot of money to transport the products. Few construction professionals accept hemp concrete because it is new to the United States and currently costs more than traditional products. The rare builders that work with it often cannot obtain enough local cannabis. So they import from overseas, especially from Europe, where the experience creates stable quality.
"The key is to have the chicken or the egg first," said Rusty Peterson, a Michigan-based marijuana producer. "Farmers will not increase any output until processing and a consistent supply chain are guaranteed."
Industrial hemp field. Photo taken by Alex Katkov, Shutterstock.
Cannabis is versatile. It can be used in 25,000 different products, including textiles, biofuels and cosmetics. But planting it involves trial and error and saw that planting was legalized nationwide only in 2018. Almost all plants produced in the United States are varieties of cannabinoids. In contrast, stalk fiber types have more industrial applications, including hemp concrete. Currently, it only accounts for a small portion of production, although it is easier to grow than horticultural hemp.
Even those who grow fiber often avoid hemp concrete. Take the owner of Eaton Hemp as an example. Its hemp farm was the first farm licensed in 2016 in New York. The company quickly gained a foothold in the field of snacks and pet bedding, and this year's gross profit is expected to quadruple from 2020 to $1.2 million. It is betting on the growing demand for plant-based foods and organic products, rather than creating a market where prices are higher than similar products.
Dan Dolgin, co-founder and CEO of Eaton Hemp, said: "If it makes sense, [producing] hemp concrete may become our future goal." "Our growth here may not be enough. Prove this. To make hemp concrete viable, you need to plant tens of thousands of acres."
Many farmers who have been oversupply of CBD have completely quit cannabis; according to Hemp Industry Daily, as of the end of September, the total licensed area has fallen by 44% since 2019 to approximately 285,000 acres. Farmers are only slowly turning to fiber options.
However, the potential is huge. Hardy cannabis stems thrive in different soils and climates. They are planted in rows like rotation crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat, and can be planted using existing machinery. After harvest, the stem produces three components-seeds, bast (long fibers used in textiles and plastics), and pericarp. The bamboo-like interior is suitable for building materials such as particle board and hemp concrete.
Hemp concrete wall. The picture comes from Wikimedia.
But hemp concrete has a big obstacle: Most construction professionals have never used it. Some people mistakenly believe that it can replace concrete. (Error: Hemp concrete is used as a filler and cannot bear weight unless it is compressed.) They never cast it in place. This is the most common application method, messy and prone to human error. They have never sprayed it, an alternative technology, or estimating the load-bearing potential of precast blocks.
"Most people don't even know what it is," said Jacob Waddell, president of the American Hemp Construction Association. "Architects, general contractors, regulators. Farmers think this is for price increases. Educating people is a very complicated problem."
Licenses are particularly tricky. There are no national guidelines, test methods or specifications for hemp concrete. Building codes vary from state to state, and even from county to county, and approval depends on whether your local officials accept the innovation. Many people don't.
To solve this problem, the association is trying to establish best practices and rules for acceptance by the International Code Committee, which is a trusted source of standards for the construction industry. Its goal is next year, and hope that the new code can arouse people's interest.
It may be too late for Hempitecture, which is one of the leading American companies working with hempcrete. After spending several years focusing on hemp concrete, it is turning to hemp, which is an alternative to traditional insulation products that do not require complicated manufacturing or authorization.
"It is more feasible to sell products than building systems," said Matthew Mead, CEO and founder of Hempitecture. "Before the construction industry accepts it, the sale of hemp concrete will be very difficult."
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