Introduction: 12-16 August 2024 Hemp Industrial Materials Supply Chain Workshop
The workshop is focused on 4 large economic sectors:
• Building materials
• Biopolymers/composites
• Paper/packaging, and
• Carbon products industries
The workshop’s purpose was to fundamentally work on the question: ‘What would it take for you to incorporate hemp into your manufactured products?’
Around 100 attendees (including virtual participants) were involved in the “Hemp Industrial Materials Supply Chain Workshop” to develop a roadmap for the industry and foster collaboration between New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest. The collaboration was initiated by OSU, NZHIA and New Zealand Product Accelerator.
A trade, investment, research, and cultural delegation of 20 people from New Zealand attended the workshop on August 14-16 iHemp fibre workshop and Expo
9 from the research community, including universities and Crown Research Institutes, 11 from private industry, including 4 Māori businesses involved with industrial hemp and agricultural products who participated in a cultural exchange with Native American attendees.
The roadmap will identify innovation barriers and opportunities to uptake hemp fibre as a material ingredient across a range of product categories, including building materials, biopolymers, and packaging.
The 4-day workshop and meetings was hosted by Dr Jeff Steiner, Director Global Hemp Innovation Centre at Oregon State University.
Industry Expo where key participants could display their biobased manufactured wares products made from hemp. This made discussions around the four primary product sectors real-life by having show-and-tell examples of the state-of-the-industry. Providing space for our private sector guests was the least we could do given that the three days they invested with us in Corvallis come out of their bottom lines. We couldn’t have had a successful workshop without them. Thank you to Hemp Wood®, Earth Merchant, PureHempNY, Bioforcetech Corporation, Rocky Boy Sustainable Development, EcoForge, Hemp Plastic Company, Callaghan Innovation, FlexForm Technologies LLC, ZILA BioWorks, Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation, Scion, Advanced Materials, QOROX®, Hempitecture, IND HEMP, ShelterWorks Ltd., Hemp Press, Just BioFiber Structural Solutions, Columbia Basin Bioscience TallWood Design Institute, florrent, and College of Forestry at Oregon State University
We are grateful for Gregory Jaffe, senior advisor for the bioeconomy in the USDA Office of the Secretary, for being our keynote speaker.
Experts including building materials specialist Sergiy Kovalenkov with Hempire, paper manufacturing guru Phil Harding, Ph.D., P.E. (OR), natural fiber composites auto body parts manufacturer Gregg Baumbaugh with FlexForm Technologies LLC, and carbon specialist Ajit Sarmah with The University of Auckland.
A deliberate intention beginning one year ago was to explore hosting a joint hemp industrial materials workshop at Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center and to bring the already braided relationships of the Aotearoa Māori with New Zealand businesses, universities, and government to Oregon. A commitment started with a lunch meeting at the NZ Hemp Industries Association Inc iHemp Summit attended by Richard Barge, Dr. Karnika De Silva, Kim Pickering, Vonese Walker, and Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea that resulted this past week with delivery of a workshop designed to be an opportunity to build cultural and trade relationships between Māori and Native American businesses and broader ones across North American and New Zealand Aotearoa. All for the purpose of helping attract and create new supply chain business partnerships, trade, and investments for mutual benefit in the emergent biobased economy, especially for using hemp in the manufacture of building materials, biopolymers/composites, paper/packaging, and carbon products.
Resources
Hemp Materials Supply Chain Workshop Program
Welcome to the OSU August Workshop
OSU Workshop Attendee Letter