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We demonstrated the HurdMaster MD1000Air, the latest iteration of our micro-decorticator, which drew great interest from those recently attending the 11th Symposium of the International Hemp Building Association (IHBA). Participants from all over the world took part in the Symposium, held this year in Amsterdam.

A number of machines involved in the hempcrete construction supply chain were demonstrated at IHBA, which also featured presentations about research science, new technologies and products, and hemp-building projects. The symposium is organized by Steve Allin, IHBA Director.

We also visited the Voorst town hall in Twello, Netherlands, a massive hempcrete casting rebuild. The city has created a public example that reflects the municipality’s climate change and sustainability goals. Built in the 1980s, the original building was typical of structures from that era in that it could not perform in an energy-efficient manner.

Following the IHBA Symposium in Amsterdam, we visited Villa Canapa, a northern Italy hemp farming and hospitality destination, where we also demonstrated the HurdMaster. While the HurdMaster is rated at an output of 50 kg per hour, an Italian crew showed that with a well-organized processing setup, the machine can achieve 100 kg per hour!

A hemp training center and event organizer, Villa Canapa raises awareness of hemp and its possibilities for sustainable use in various sectors, such as textiles, construction and cosmetics. Their farm grows hemp using sustainable techniques to obtain high-quality products. We highly recommend a visit!

The HurdMaster is perfect for operators in certain parts of Italy, where farming and the hemp value chain are on a smaller scale. The local stakeholders who observed the HurdMaster demonstration showed a lot of interest in our technology.

An exciting initiative unfolding in a small village near Lusikisiki town, nestled in the heart of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The Best Grow, an organization led by Director and founder Alan Diaz, introduced the HurdMaster Micro Decorticator 1000Air to the local communities that have been working with the hemp plant for years. This revolutionary machine helps growers process their hemp stalks to yield further valuable outputs.

The endeavor received overwhelming support from various parties and community members, including Simon from Strainhunters, as well as local heroes Bonke and Greek. Together, they successfully helped to bring the HurdMaster to the village, fueling excitement and hope for the community’s future.

Small, mobile, easy to transport

“The HurdMaster is a small, mobile, and easy-to-transport machine that does an exceptional job at decorticating,” Diaz enthused. This powerful tool has the potential to revolutionize the way the community harnesses the potential of AmaMpondo landrace stalks. The process of picking and selecting suitable stalks for decortication became a collaborative effort between The Best Grow team and the local villagers, unveiling the vast abundance of available resources in the area. 

The significance of this initiative goes beyond economic benefits; it also reflects a commitment to preserving the traditional practices of the Mpondoland area, For many years, the local communities have nurtured the amaMpondo landrace cannabis, but their efforts have yet to yield substantial rewards. The introduction of the HurdMaster signifies a pivotal turning point, bringing the possibility of transformation and progress for the villagers.

Rekindling hope and optimism

The local government has expressed its support for the community’s endeavors, recognizing the value and potential of their hemp cultivation. However, tangible benefits have been slow to materialize. With initiatives like The Best Grow’s introduction of the HurdMaster, hope and optimism are rekindled among the villagers, as they eagerly await to be able to process their stalks into further outputs, and unlock the full potential of this game-changing machine.

Wolf Jordan, who transitioned from the world of traditional construction to become a fierce proponent of natural building solutions, and who inspired ecologically-minded builders the world over, has died at age 75.

Jordan’s “small is beautiful” ethos inspired Latvian hemp builder Kristaps Eglitis to develop the HurdMaster, a hemp micro-decorticator that is sold all over the world. “He not only inspired me to work with hempcrete, but we can also say he was the grandfather of HurdMaster,” Eglitis said.

An innovator, teacher, entrepreneur – and blues musician, Jordan traveled the world, lecturing, building, and searching for pigments to go into Calcatex, his lovingly crafted line of natural lime-based paints.

The move towards prefabricated building components is growing as interest grows in construction based on hempcrete and hemp fibers.

The trend is reflected in the program of the 11th International Hemp Building Symposium set for Amsterdam Oct. 10-11, according to Steve Allin, director of the International Hemp Building Association, the symposium’s organizer.

“Many companies and groups of entrepreneurs are looking into making a local version of hempcrete blocks or panels,” Allin said.

Hoping to tap into the ongoing need for homes in Southern Africa, Capetown-based solutions provider The Best Grow has signed an agreement with Industrial Hemp Latvia (IHL), Riga, to distribute the HurdMaster 1000 Micro Decorticator.

The HurdMaster, highly mobile, durable technology that turns hemp stalks into hurd and bast fibers, is a keen fit in the region’s markets, made up primarily of remote, isolated communities where it is impossible to bring in big processing lines, said Alan Diaz, principal director at The Best Grow, a technology re-seller that services cannabis companies in South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia.

“It has long been my dream to make a natural home and create a self-sufficient household, and now I’ve done it,” says Serbian hemp grower and do-it-yourself builder Vesna Alavanja as she gazes through her hemp field at a cozy 65 sq. m. hempcrete house outside of Belgrade.

Nestled in the slopes of Mt. Kosmaj 35 miles from the capital, the structure is the first home built from hurd grown in Serbia, according to Alavanja.

Designed by Belgrade architects BIRO 33, the build was completed in just 35 days following completion of a hurd supply sourced from Alavanja’s adjacent hemp field.

INTERVIEW: Marguerite Bolt has been hemp extension specialist at Purdue University since 2019, when the position was created to help Purdue take an active role in advancing the hemp industry across the state of Indiana. Bolt, who grew up chasing bugs on a farm in northern Michigan, earned a bachelor of science degree in entomology from Michigan State University (MSU), where she also served as a research assistant in the school’s Landis Lab and as a field technician in the university’s Extension program. She earned a master’s degree in entomology at Purdue before taking up her current position. Bolt represents Purdue in the Midwest Hemp Database, an initiative in which researchers from several U.S. farm-state universities are cooperating on hemp studies focused on cannabinoids.

INTERVIEW: Heather Grab is Senior Lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Integrative Plant Science where she teaches and mentors students in the Hemp Science Master’s Program. As a researcher in the school’s hemp program, her interests include hemp production and processing, agroecology and how insects interact with plants. Her recent work looks at the role of hemp in supporting diverse, native and managed pollinator communities, and how hemp can promote the pollination of other specialty crops.

When Dylan Veilleux arrived at the idea for transforming leftover hemp stalks into products, he turned to the vibrant startup community in the U.S. state of Maine, finding support and building key relationships first.

He got help prototyping his ideas from advisers at Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space, a business development & networking center, and the Central Maine Growth Council in Waterville, Maine, a regional economic development group. 

The HurdMaster Micro Decorticator, a small-scale fiber processing unit designed by Industrial Hemp Latvia (IHL) founder and entrepreneur Kristaps Eglitas, is now in production and may be ordered.

The machine is designed for small-scale flower and seed growers who want to monetize leftover stems from their harvests, Eglitis said. It is intended for farms of 2-5 hectares (about 6-10 acres). The HurdMaster is priced at €13,500/$14,740.

“We’re getting excellent hurds for hempcrete,” Eglitis said of the sleek, boxy, stainless-steel unit, which is small enough to fit in a car. “We processed some fiber for hempcrete to insulate my own house which we’re now working on, and the hurds’ performance in the mix was excellent,” Eglitis said.