At this year’s Greenbuild Conference and Expo, held Nov. 4–7 in Los Angeles, bio-based building materials took the spotlight — both on the show floor and in one of the conference’s most crowded sessions.

Hemp-lime innovators Wittenberg, WI-based Sativa Building Systems announced that the company has been awarded $1.9 million in a SBIR Phase II contract from the US Army. The two-year contract will focus on developing a bio-based insulation system using hemp hurd and mycelium, founder Zachery Popp told HempBuild Mag.

Multiple US hemp-building companies will make a big splash for around 25,000 visitors at one of the largest US construction sustainability expos and conferences later this month in Philadelphia, thanks to collaboration and the generosity of a hemp processing company and a hemp-building non-profit.