Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of Murray, KY-based HempWood appears as the guest in the fourth episode of Hemp Build Podcast.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community is on a mission to get its members into healthier homes. Since 2016, the indigenous community, located in Morton, Minnesota, has been growing the main material necessary to build affordable, sustainable homes right on the reservation: hemp. 

Colorado engineer Mark Benjamin of Greeley-based Crown Jade Engineering joined Hemp Build School for the third in a podcast series spotlighting leaders in the hemp building industry and tailored to architects seeking continuing education (CE) credits.

Hemp Build School rolled out a second in a podcast series spotlighting leaders in the hemp building industry and tailored to architects seeking continuing education (CE) credits in December.

Hemp Build School rolled out a new podcast series spotlighting leaders in the hemp building industry and tailored to architects seeking continuing education (CE) credits.

Guests from Colorado-based Healthy Hemp Homes were Eric Milburn, Tanner Bowman and David Milburn

According to builder Jeff Gagnon, a space that’s been insulated with hemp materials stays warm in winter, cool in summer, emits no toxins and is as quiet as snow.

Hempcrete builders in Minnesota are taking a leadership role in the newly launched Minnesota Efficient Builders Coalition (MEBC), which will advance efficient, high-performance, and low-carbon residential construction.

INTERVIEW: Miles Gathright is co-founder of Boardwurks Biocomposites, a Florida-based innovator developing carbon-smart construction panels made from hemp hurd and recycled composites.

The Swiss construction company Openly introduced last month a new class of CO₂ certificates monetizing the carbon dioxide permanently sequestered in buildings constructed with biogenic materials like hempcrete and timber. The launch follows a year of development, founders said.

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.

A French lime manufacturer best known for heritage restoration is entering the hemp-lime construction market with a new family of products designed for hempcrete and other plant-based building materials.

Hemp-lime (hempcrete) construction in US residential building codes took a major step forward in Cleveland last week when proposed updates to Appendix BL of the 2027 International Residential Code (IRC) were unanimously approved during the International Code Council (ICC) Committee Week proceedings. An online fundraiser successfully raised more than $12,000 to pay for the code adoption.

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.

When my husband, Steve, and I moved from the UK to Portugal’s Silver Coast, we certainly didn't plan on buying an entire ruined village. Our original idea was just a small house and an Airbnb conversion. But then Chumbaria caught my eye online—it was love at first sight! We bought the small cluster of derelict stone buildings for €200,000, and our epic renovation journey began.

The 13th International Hemp Building Symposium (IHBS) is scheduled to take place from October 3–5 on the Lower Sioux Indian Community reservation in Morton, Minnesota. The event marks a historically significant collaboration, positioning the Lower Sioux Community at the forefront of sustainable and regenerative construction in North America.

At the 2025 Rocky Mountain Natural Building Conference in Bozeman, Montana, last week, three leaders in hemp-based construction shared their perspectives on the material’s future: Greg Wilson of HempWood, Matt Marino of Homeland Hempcrete, and architect April Magill of Root Down Building Collective. (Full disclosure: I serve as executive director of the conference hosts, the Colorado-based Natural Building Alliance.)

A group of natural building code experts and building pros submitted updates this summer to the US residential model codes that will make it cheaper and simpler to build with hemp-lime (“hempcrete”). An online fundraiser seeks to raise $12,000 to fund the updates to the 2027 International Residential Code (IRC) that will include ASTM tested 1-hour fire-resistance rated walls.

Ireland’s landscape is steeped in tradition, but the terrain of its future must be shaped by innovation. As the nation faces steep greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set for 2030, the stakes are high—both environmentally and economically.

Greencore Homes, one of the largest hemp-lime builders in the UK, recently announced two large British housing development projects featuring the company’s “Biond panels” totaling more than 130 new “Better Than Net Zero” homes in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the special guest at the opening of a second factory on the HempWood campus in Murray, KY on Aug. 5.