Colorado Leads the Charge With Alternative Uses for Hemp

In partnership with: Colorado Department of Agriculture

Colorado farmers are leading the charge focusing on alternative uses for hemp from building materials to clothing and paper products as they work to ensure a successful hemp industry for future generations.

Working in construction, Eric Milburn had a firsthand look at the amount of waste produced by the industry. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 23% of the nation’s waste comes from construction and demolition. Looking for a solution, Milburn turned to an unlikely material: hemp.

Milburn founded Healthy Hemp Homes with his father, David, who also serves as the chief architect. The two were inspired to use this alternative building material when Milburn’s grandmother returned from a trip to Laos. There, she saw centuries-old homes built with hemp.

The father-son team makes what’s called hempcrete, created from hemp hurd derived from the plant’s stalk. As the price of lumber continues to skyrocket, hempcrete fills a need in homebuilding.

“Hemp can replace almost every part of a home, from the two-by-fours and the hardwood flooring to the insulation and even the interior walls,” Milburn says.

Using hempcrete in his homebuilding business not only simplifies the building process, it also eliminates the need for drywall, fiberglass insulation and other chemical-based substances common in homes as it naturally provides insulation and is strong, durable, nontoxic and pest resistant.

Cultivating Opportunities

The hemp industry is growing in Colorado, especially with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval of the Colorado State Hemp Management Plan in the summer of 2021, which provided a framework for practices and procedures while also opening more opportunities for farmers, producers and businesses to enter the growing field. The approval came after a years-long pilot program that launched in 2014. At the ceremony unveiling the approval, even singer and American icon Willie Nelson sent a statement, saying, “Colorado should be proud of leading the charge for the hemp industry.”

From the 1970s until the passage of this watershed legislation, the cousin of the marijuana plant was illegal. However, Colorado advocates knew hemp had much to offer to both the public and farmers, who could take advantage of another plant to produce and sell. Now, hemp testing below 0.3% THC is an official crop in Colorado.

Ed Lehrburger, the founder and president of PureVision Technology, had hemp on his radar for years because of its versatility. Hemp can be used to make rope, clothing, paper products, biofuel, insulation and more. In 2010, he started working behind the scenes to put hemp on the ballot. Amendment 64, which legalized the cultivation of both cannabis and hemp, passed in 2012, and the Colorado legislature invited Lehrburger to sit on the Industrial Hemp Advisory Committee to assist with writing the hemp growing rules in the state.

PureVision Technology first focused on utilizing agricultural residues such as corn stalks and cobs, wood and triticale straw. In 2014, they moved to processing hemp stalks as well as making CBD and cannabinoid products. Two years later, they began branching out into alternative uses for hemp including producing paper and boxes made from hemp to sell their CBD products. The company has been working with Colorado farmers to supply hemp stalks to make pulp and paper products as well as hurd for uses in different industries.

“The sustainably conscious consumer would rather have hemp paper versus tree paper,” Lehrburger says. “Now there are farmers in Colorado and a growing number of farmers all over the country who have success growing hemp.”

See more: How Colorado’s Southern Ute Community Is Working to Ensure Access to Healthy Foods

Farmers First

Bill Althouse, the founder of the workers cooperative Fat Pig Society, has the success of farmers at the forefront of his mind. With the goal to pump revenue into family farms, he turned to hemp. The energy engineer understood the value of hemp in all of its forms, and he says he produced the first commercial CBD strain while working at a small dispensary in New Mexico.

Althouse used his experience in plant genetics and research and development to find a variety of hemp that would not break the 0.3% threshold of THC. Out of 12,000 genotypes, he found four meeting that criteria. Althouse took his findings directly to interested farmers to give them more opportunities with lower risk.

“I’m really worried when I see more and more farms dropping out, going belly up, the kid moves away, the next generation’s not interested,” he says. “We’ve worked out and developed not just the genetics, but the entire path for the small farmer to make sure they’re producing the highest quality hemp [without breaking state laws]. I want to see revenue go to our farmers.”

His involvement has led him to testify before legislative committees prior to the passage of Amendment 64. He also served on the governor’s Hemp Advisory Committee from 2013 to July 2021.

With so many pathways cleared for hemp, Colorado growers have much to look forward to, especially with the opportunities alternative uses for hemp provide.

“As soon as I start to mention the hundreds of ways hemp can be used, people’s jaws drop to the floor,” Milburn says. “When I talk about hempcrete as a building material, they get so excited thinking of their healthy hemp home and the assurance that it will last for generations. I love teaching people about hemp because, to me, it’s the future.”

See more: Colorado’s Young Hemp Industry Matures