Brett Boag holds a small square of what appears to be ordinary wooden, 20-millimetre-thick chipboard.During a recent test in the United States, it withstood even a burst from a high-powered AK-47.
"With more than 1 per cent THC we refer to it either as marijuana, because everyone knows what that is, or high-THC cannabis."The council wants to see industrial hemp develop into a major Australian agricultural industry. He also plans to produce hemp beams that are lighter and as strong as steel, hemp pipes that could replace PVC, and hemp building blocks for constructing easily erectable, energy-efficient, fire-resistant houses.In simple terms, hemp is an easy crop to grow, a headache to harvest and a finicky one to process.AgriFutures has run a successful trial using a cotton gin to process a hemp crop.
To date, there are about 300 such houses nationwide and this style of building, which affords wonderful insulation, is becoming more popular."As energy prices increase, the demand for hemp houses is going to keep increasing," said David Brian, who has built 14 such houses.Recent shortages of building materials, exacerbated by the pandemic, have also given the fledgling industrial hemp industry additional momentum.