Lower Sioux Indian Community aiming to grow "hempcrete" business with new facility

MORTON, Minn. — The Lower Sioux Indian Community debuted a new facility on the reservation Thursday, which will allow for expanded production of "hempcrete" — the natural, sustainable home insulation material.

More than 100 people showed up to the all-day event to see the space and learn about the process of making the hempcrete blocks— which are made of part of the hemp stem, water and a lime binder — and harvesting the crop, which is like a cannabis cousin to marijuana.

Danny Desjarlais, the project manager, said he and his staff were previously relegated to Minnesota's short construction season, which means they could only build a few homes each year. This new space creates more opportunity to expand.

"It opens the doors up for us to make as many homes as we want," Desjarlais said. "If we can just keep making these panels and blocks all year round, there's really no limit to the amount of houses we can make now."

Desjarlais hopes more local farmers will consider growing hemp. The reservation only has 500 acres of tillable farmland and right now one-fifth of it is used for hemp. That's the key for their business to really scale up. The facility, he said, can process 2,500 acres worth of the crop.

"Most of the local farmers around here have way more than enough acreage to be able to feed this entire building. If just one farmer jumped on board, that would be enough hemp for us to keep this thing going 24 hours a day, year round," he said.

Joey Goodthunder, a Lower Sioux farmer who also grows corn and soybeans, said what's keeping others from harvesting hemp is there aren't many places interested in purchasing it.

Thursday's grand opening of the industrial hemp campus was an opportunity to showcase that the Lower Sioux Industrial Hemp is a prospective buyer.

Goodthunder said he plants in late April and 90 days later, it's ready for harvest. They sell some of the fibers, which are used in textiles, but their focus is the inner parts of the stem, known as the hurd. Those are ground up like wood chips before mixing it to make the hempcrete blocks.

"You don't know until you try it. I was a little skeptical at first, too. But this is a fun crop to raise," he said. "To see it go from seed to wall is one of the best things I've accomplished."

The reservation first started growing hemp when it participated in a pilot project in 2017. The hemp campus facility was made possible in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.