HempBuild Magazine: “Your GreenBuilt Revolution”

Homeowners returning to their burned-out homes in southern California are facing the painful consequences of the US construction industry’s reliance on cheap plastics and petroleum-based building materials: Not only are these materials easily combusted in a wildfire, but they leave behind a toxic soup that has polluted waterways and poisoned air quality.

As publishers of HempBuildMag.com, we are excited to bring a new and updated edition of the Hemp Building Directory for 2025. 

We are watching the industry grow and expand in this  comprehensive directory of the international hemp building industry in 2025. Our listings cover more than 700 unique companies and experts in 32 different countries in 26 categories.

Hemp-lime construction expanded further into the national spotlight this week when a California film festival awarded first prize to a short documentary featuring the Morton, MN-based Lower Sioux hempcrete building team.

The largest hemp project in the United States consisting of 12 duplex units in Newburyport, MA will open to residents next month. Builder David Hall and architect Keith Moskow of Hall and Moskow Corporation have been working since 2023 on the Hillside Center for Sustainable Living, an attainably-priced multi-family housing development, from their own design of hempcrete over steel frame panels. The new hempcrete development  will welcome its first residents on February 15.

An international gathering of hemp building experts will host its annual conference and expo in the United States for the first time at the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Morton, MN in October, 2025.

Two hospitalized members of the hemp building community have received support from members of the industry through GoFundMe donations.

We’re sticking out our neck at HempBuild Mag and trying to predict what will happen in the wonderful and confusing hemp building industry  in the new year.

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.

A November gathering of scientists and researchers meeting in Malaysia shows how opportunities from the hemp plant – both for medicinal and industrial uses such as building materials – is spreading through Asia and gathering momentum worldwide.

The USHBA announced that 10 members had flung their hats into the ring to run for the board of directors in the December 2024 elections.

One Plant is a documentary that delves into hemp’s industrial, environmental, and health benefits. Broken down into chapters that focus on fiber, grain and flower, the film aims to address misconceptions, hoping to bring more attention and awareness to the plant. Jordan Berger, a CBD farmer, director and film producer shared with HempBuild Mag his personal journey from the film's inception to execution.

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.

In a combination of luck and excellent design, none of the Asheville, NC hemp houses Timothy Callahan built between 2009-2021 were damaged by Hurricane Helene. He now concludes that building with hemp is every bit as good in extreme rain and humidity as he suspected it would be.

Last summer, Zachery Popp found out his Wisconsin warehouse/workshop was burning down after a late-night alert from neighbors.

“My wife and I drove out there as quickly as we could,” Popp told HempBuild Mag.” And, yeah, the building was basically fully collapsed at that point.”

The US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Jerome, Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. an $8.4 million grant as part of the department’s  Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC). The award is part of $428 million for 14 projects to accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing in 15 coal communities across the United States, the company announced.

US Hemp Building Association is a membership organization dedicated to support and advocate for hemp building professionals, projects, and materials in the United States.

We are organized by a 9-member Volunteer Board of Directors who serve for 2-year terms. Board members serve on USHBA and our sister 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, the US Hemp Building Foundation.

The founder at southwestern Colorado’s Kosmos Stargazing Resort wants you to imagine gazing at the stars from your private viewing dome attached to a luxurious, healthy villa – made of hempcrete.

New laws regarding the legalization of hemp in Japan, and new coalitions with Thailand, are opening up possibilities for the hemp industry for medicinal and industrial uses in both Asian countries.

New 2024 US residential building codes for hemplime (“hempcrete”) will be explained by experts at a special low-cost in-person event for architects, builders and developers in San Marcos, TX in October.

New architectural plans for three hempcrete ADU designs were released this week by a Carolinas-based team who say their multi-year experience designing and building hemp-lime homes can boost success for those who want to build with hempcrete.

The US Environmental Protection Agency awarded almost $6.2M to a Nashville-based hemp-building nonprofit organization as part of a $160 million package of grants designed to reduce embodied greenhouse gas emissions in construction materials and projects.

Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. are the recipients of a $1.1 M grant from the state of New York to develop and manufacture innovative bio-based insulation products using regionally grown industrial hemp fibers, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.

US Army-funded researchers in Pennsylvania achieved a one-hour fire resistance rating for a spray-applied hemplime (“hempcrete”) wall test panel in early July, moving hempcrete closer to acceptance as a US building material.

US Hemp Building Association members at the Members Online Event June 15 voted for the top Hemp House built in the past year.

Building with hemp-lime (“hempcrete”) is about to get a visibility boost in popular culture after international clothing giant Patagonia completed filming a new short film that shines the spotlight on the hempcrete home-building of the Lower Sioux in Morton, MN.

Commercial and residential architects will be able to more easily design for US buildings using hemp-lime (hempcrete) thanks to new technical resources released this week through the US Hemp Building Association.

Imagine one day having the possibility of building a home on Maui using locally grown hemp. As a construction product, hemp has extraordinary qualities. Mixed with lime, water and volcanic minerals to create hempcrete, this eco-friendly building material is not only fire, mold and termite resistant, it’s also a non-toxic, sound insulating, energy efficient product which absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.