The Lower Sioux in Minnesota is building what will be the U.S.’s first hemp-based building material manufacturing facility.
The facility will grow and process hemp so it can be turned into hempcrete, according to Grist.
According to Hempitecture, hempcrete is a bio-composite that “combines the inner woody core of the industrial hemp plant with a lime-based binder.”
Grist said the new facility, slated to finish construction in April, will be the first in the U.S. to handle all three aspects of hempcrete production.
The Lower Sioux intends to use the material to address both housing and job shortages on the reservation.
The 20,000-square-foot manufacturing campus will be based on the tribe’s reservation.
