Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

This perspective is championed by Winona LaDuke, an economist, environmental activist, and entrepreneur. LaDuke, who also serves as the founder and research director of the Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute in Osage, Minn., collaborated with the White Earth Nation in mid-August to construct a hempcrete extension at her hemp and heritage farm. Remarkably, the walls were erected in just four hours, she shared with Tribal Business News. This marked the inaugural hempcrete project in Minnesota.

“This project could be an example of what the future looks like,” LaDuke told Tribal Business News. “We put up walls in a single afternoon. Each of the panels weighs like 400 to 500 pounds – a few guys could lift them. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Hempcrete, derived from combining unused hemp plant stems or “herd” with lime, is an energy-efficient building material gaining traction in parts of Indian Country.

According to LaDuke, this unique material offers the possibility of constructing swift, cost-effective housing that boasts reduced energy expenses due to its inherent energy efficiency. Additionally, hempcrete’s lightness and ease of use mean that smaller construction teams can efficiently erect new buildings. The housing crisis has long been a pressing concern on Native American reservations, with insufficient sustainable housing hindering economic development and perpetuating poverty cycles.

The challenges of COVID-19 and the impacts of climate change have only intensified the problem. They have increased construction expenses, interrupted the delivery of vital building materials, and created a need to modify and renovate existing homes for better climate adaptability. LaDuke suggests that seeking innovative alternatives to traditional methods is a proactive approach to hasten housing solutions and address these challenges head-on.

“Most tribal housing is in dire situations, and a lot of it is not really set up for climate change related disasters – and that is kind of what we’re looking at right now,” LaDuke said. “There’s more storms, more heat, more wind, and so you not only need housing, but you need housing that’s not flimsy.”

Here comes hempcrete, or more precisely, prefabricated hemp panels like those that were utilized to construct the installation at Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm. Homeland Hempcrete, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, designed the panels that were used in that construction.

Co-owner Samantha Marino stated that utilizing hempcrete allows for swift and flexible construction that can adjust to changing climate and workforce requirements.

“The goal with using the prefabricated panels is to simplify and speed up a normally labor-intensive process, which we hope can make hempcrete more easily adoptable,” Marino told Tribal Business News.

A significant challenge remains in the form of cost. LaDuke concedes that projects constructed with hemp currently come at a premium, posing an obstacle for those considering hempcrete as a future building material.

According to a 2023 USDA report, U.S. hemp production saw a sharp decline from 2021 to 2022, dropping a staggering 71 percent from $824 million to $238 million. This decline is attributed to ambiguities in regulations concerning the plant’s legality and its potential applications, combined with market saturation following numerous states’ legalization of CBD products.

This decrease in domestic production has inadvertently increased the prices of processed items, including the herd required for hempcrete.

However, LaDuke is already strategizing. She intends to utilize hemp cultivated on her 40-acre farm and another farm within the White Earth Nation for future panel production.

Currently, hemp from the White Earth Nation is outsourced for processing. This means the Nation doesn’t fully capitalize on its product’s value, as it’s sent to processors located in states like North Carolina and Virginia.

“Even with our current hemp acreage, processing fiber hemp is a challenge today, as the equipment and technology to capture the full value-added potential of the fiber hemp plant is just becoming available in the United States,” LaDuke said. “But AAI and the emergent Indigenous Hemp and Cannabis Cooperative are keen on securing the correct equipment to process hemp for building and for use in textile fabric manufacturing.”

The White Earth Nation stands to gain significantly from expanding current hemp activities and entering the hemp market, according to LaDuke, while also gaining access to hempcrete for use in their own structures. It’s a win-win scenario, and the hemp herd is selling for more money than usual, she claimed. Housing will also always be necessary.

“We want to make these panels for our community,” LaDuke said. “You’re always going to be building, that’s a constant.”