Hemp Building Industry Gathers at Lower Sioux for International Symposium

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Written By Jean Lotus

Danny Desjarlais, director of the Lower Sioux hemp program, speaks to conference attendees at the 13th International Hemp Building Symposium in Morton, MN. Photo courtesy of Jean Lotus

Hemp Building Industry Gathers at Lower Sioux for International Symposium

By Jean Lotus

International and US experts in hemp-lime construction gathered at the Lower Sioux Community in Morton, MN to celebrate hemp-based building materials at the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium this month. Co-hosted by the Ireland-based International Hemp Building Association (IHBA) and the Lower Sioux Hemp Program, the event featured both scientific research and practical applications of bio-based building materials.

As well as listening to program speakers at the Jackpot Junction Casino and conference center, attendees toured the Lower Sioux’s four hempcrete homes and hemp-processing and building facility. In a hands-on demonstration, Pennsylvania-based Americhanvre sprayed a full-scale hempcrete tipi!

Tribal member actor and activist Dallas Goldtooth emceed dinner and an auction, bringing humor and advocacy to the fundraiser. Half of the proceeds from the symposium were pledged to support a new community school at the Lower Sioux. 

“This whole experience has been incredible and I’m grateful to be part of such an amazing community,” said Danny Desjarlais, who leads the Lower Sioux Hemp Building Program.

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Expertise from the EU and UK

Steve Allin, director of the IHBA and organizer of the symposium, emphasized the significance of hosting the global gathering in the U.S., saying momentum would grow in North America based on the decades of expertise developed in the UK and EU.

Visiting US hemp builders and suppliers heard from EU and UK experts, including Antoine Moussié, CEO of the 700-member French agricultural cooperative La Chanvrière, which has been growing and processing industrial hemp for 50 years. 

Dr. Eshrar Latif of Cardiff University shared findings from over a decade of research including  hemp-lime’s ability to regulate humidity and store heat in ways that aren’t currently measured in insulation U-values and R-value.

“When you account for heat storage, hemp-lime performs better — and that matters even more in a warming world,” Latif said.

From France, Daniel Daviller of Saint-Astier presented his company’s century-long experience with natural hydraulic lime binders. 

“Training sessions for contractors and architects are the best way to secure the market,” Daviller advised

Guillaume Delannoy, a researcher at FRD-CODEM France, unveiled a newly developed handheld scanner tool designed to help farmers assess straw quality on-site before harvest.

Images from the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium in Morton MN, October. 3-5. Photos courtesy of Jean Lotus

“Be More Pirate,” advised Alex Sparrow, of UK Hempcrete, describing his company’s pivot from “building 10 houses this year and 10 next year,” to focusing on high-volume, repeatable, and cost-affordable systems. Sparrow is co-author with William Stanwix of 2014’s The Hempcrete Book, a bible for hempcrete builders worldwide. 

French conference sponsor Damien Baumer of 20-year old Baumer Company revealed the somewhat-piratic origins of the name of the Ereasy Spray system as deriving from  "heresy" because it went against rules imposed by commercial building lobbies.

German researchers Felix Drewes and Susanne Bartholomé, working with Hochschule Merseburg in Germany, discussed the transition of former coal regions into hemp production. Hempblocks received approval for use as an exterior wall in Germany in December 2024, they said.

Stephen Clarke, founder of Tulum, Mexico-based HeavenGrown emphasized working with local and plentiful bio-based materials including bagasse (sugar cane waste), coco-crete from coconut trees and bamboo as well as using local clays and minerals. Citing the work of MIT engineering professor John Ochsendorf and the long-lasting Persian vaulted designs, Clarke pointed to domed and vaulted structures.

“We have to change our geometry because nothing in nature is straight,” Clarke said.

Images from the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium in Morton MN, October. 3-5. Photos courtesy of Jean Lotus

US Projects in Focus

Micaela Machado of Tucson-based Old Pueblo Hemp Company described the renovation with hempcrete block insulation of Camp Cooper, a Tucson school district eco-learning center. Micaela and her husband Vince set up a block factory to produce around 16,000 blocks for the renovation.  

Pioneering hempcrete builder Pamela Bosch, owner and designer of the Bellingham, WA Highland Hemp House, used the metaphor of a tree growing to build a community of new people who spread the hemp-lime technology to their own orbits. ‘

“Perhaps Danny's [Lower Sioux] project is watered from my tree and other trees, and that's how we get things done,” Bosch observed.

Minnesota architect/designers Simona Fischer, AIA, Anna Koosman, AIA and Janneke Schapp explained the process for Minnesota being the first US state to adopt the International Residential Code’s Appendix BL (hemp-lime construction) in the state building codes.

Images from the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium in Morton MN, October. 3-5. Photos courtesy of Jean Lotus

Indigenous Leadership in Hemp Building

The Lower Sioux’s industrial hemp growing-and-construction project was celebrated in a 2024 Patagonia Workwear documentary “Green Buffalo” which won the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s first prize for a documentary last year. 

Side by side, members of other US and Canadian tribes have embraced hemp-lime building and cultivation, leading the way in the United States.

Indigenous sponsors of the event included Kansas-based Potawatomi-owned Prairie Band Ag and Pine Ridge Reservation-based, Makoce Agriculture Development. Hemp and Water Protector activist Winona LaDuke represented the Minnesota Anishinaabeg tribe. Lisa Sundberg of Trinidad-CA-based Indigenous Habitat Institute was also in attendance. Additionally, hand-crafted tribal art and crafts were for sale at the casino and the conference. 

“Well-curated,” was how conference attendee Candace “Kandeau” Clark, from Alabama, described the conference. “The fact that we got to engage with the Lower Sioux and see their buildings was excellent,” she added. 

Images from the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium in Morton MN, October. 3-5. Photos courtesy of Jean Lotus

Conference attendee and anti-plastic activist Gina Ciganik, CEO of Minnesota-based Habitable, called the tours of Lower Sioux hempcrete homes “awesome.” Holding the conference at the Lower Sioux community, conference organizers “could not have chosen a better location,” she posted on social media. “It was also great to learn from the top industrial hemp leaders from across the globe,” she wrote.

“At a time when most building professionals are constructing their projects out of plastic materials, these trailblazers are proving that there is a healthier, better way to build,” she said.

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