House of hemp: Growers call for a processing plant in WA to supply building
industry By Roxanne Taylor 6/3/2017
Construction of the first hemp house in WA
has just been completed, sparking calls to
build a local processing plant so local farmers
can supply the building industry.
The hemp plant's woody stem is shredded,
mixed with a lime render and tampered into
place inside a timber frame.
Builder Gary Rogers said hemp is a high
thermal insulator.
"The hemp is basically encased around your
timber frame home so in a nutshell it's your
cladding, it's your insulation, and it's all your
gyprock and basically all your painting, all
done in one, in a monolithic wall," Mr Rogers
said. The hemp walls are also termite
resistant, fireproof, breathable, prevent
mould, store carbon and reduce the need for
heating and cooling.
"We can import building materials to try and
get it going and that's what we're doing at the
moment, working with a couple of builders to
import it so we can actually build interest in
the industry," Colin Steddy, director of the
Hemp Corporation, said.
Hemp growers face uphill battle
But local hemp growers said they could grow
hemp plants but just needed a processing plant
in WA because their product was going to
waste.
Gail Stubber, a South West hemp grower, said
regulations prevented her from selling the
seed as a food product.
"I can grow this crop but I can't do anything
with it," Ms Stubber said.
"The only thing I can do with the seed is either
replant it next year if it doesn't go high THC
or I can have it pressed down into an oil,
which is not really the way I want to go."
There were strict regulations ensuring the
amount of THC in the plant was low, but Ms
Stubber said that was not the biggest hurdle.
"I'd like the seed to be used for food because
that immediately makes my crop more
valuable," she said.
Builder Gary Rogers demonstrates tamping the hemp
into place
And with the plant reaching maturity for
hemp fibre requirements in just 14 weeks, it
has been touted as an environmentally
friendly answer to the building industry.
Mr Rogers used some locally grown and
milled hemp to build the Margaret River
home but he could not source enough product
for a house.
At the moment, processed hemp needs to be
imported from the east coast and Europe.
"I would like them to give us some sort of
ruling on if the THC is slightly high, whether
we can use the bi-products that are not
involved in the high THC, so the herd, the
inside part which is the housing thing.
"And I'd like the government to give us a
hand, be it with a grant or something, to
actually get a processing mill here in the
South West.
"It's closed a lot mills, a lot of paper and pulp
mills, but maybe we can turn one of those
mills, whether it be at Kirup or Nannup or
something into a hemp mill and produce herd
for housing."