SATIVA BLDG SYSTEMS WINS $1.9 MILLION GRANT TO DEVELOP PLANT-BASED CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS..... WITTENBERG, WI COMPANY TAKES LEAD IN US HEMP INDUSTRY TO DEVELOP FOR MILITARY..... HOUSING, COMMERCIAL BUILDERS & FARMERS WILL BENEFIT.
The green of the Army is getting greener. The Army Corps of Engineers is on a mission to build the most climate-friendly buildings, and a Wisconsin product development firm is setting the new standards, using hemp fiber and mycelium, made from fungus. Sativa Building Systems has received a $1.9 milllion SBIR grant to take their Z-Panel system to new levels. The company in Wittenberg, WI has been developing their panel system for some years to meet this new demand.
Plant-based materials are in growth mode around the world, led by hemp fiber for its sustainable qualities of managing thermal energy and moisture, while also being a renewable resource. The real winners will be the farmers, starting with those who are currently growing about 100,000 acres of industrial hemp in the US. It is being sold to processors such as Tiger Fiber and the massive Panda Biotech in Wichita Falls, TX.
Investors are starting to feel the magic, as deals continue to close in the $2 million to $10 million range. On the demand side, major brands are carving out new hemp-based product categories, especially textile brands like Levis and Patagonia. The progress of importing hemp back to the US from Eastern Europe and China is continuing. What's new is that these old-school hemp industries have not had the advantage of American ingenuity and private investment. What we're seeing in the US is a complete vertically-integrated industry being stitched together.
This is much different than what happened with aviation, automotive or computer industries. Those are inventions, products, patented technologies that someone dreamed up and became hugely competitive, subject to dramatic ups and downs of consumer trends .
Biomaterials like hemp, on the other hand, are renewable resources that meet or exceed extracted materials on many levels. We're not used to that idea. The winners are the human beings who grow and process the fiber. When was the last time you drove by a nylon farm, or a polyethelyne orchard? Never.
On that note, name one product that goes into building a house that was grown on a farm? There isn't one, unless you count the fir trees owned by Ga Pacific for 2x4s. But with hemp it's perfectly feasible to grow it in a field and use a tractor device that processes the plant into usable fiber, or two fibers, one is called 'bast' and the other is 'hurd'. More on that later. That fiber can be locally processed into raw fiber for a lot of industries. Textiles, Plastics, Electronics, Construction, Energy, Paper.
This is not "a new breakthrough" in a lab somewhere. It's already happening, and our work is to promote the people who are doing it.
Homes built of what is called 'hempcrete' or CFB, (Cultivated Fiber for Buildings), are being sold at a steady pace. These are healthy homes that manage mold, heat and moisture much better than a traditional stick or brick build. Sativa's low estimate for a house is around $250 per square foot, which is competitive in many markets. And the price will be going down as values go up.
YES, HEMP.... AND THEN THERE'S THE MUSHROOMS
You can't say hemp without someone in the room mimicking taking a toke on a joint. Please, grow up. The same deal with mushrooms. The magic of mushroom mycelium is in how well it works. You have to touch it and use it to believe it. Fungus products are super-valuable material that will benefit the world, or at least not destroy it as quickly. Either way, a gift from nature.
Mycelium is the other secret additive to Sativa's product for the US Army. It's a fiber material made from mushrooms and has such astonishing properties as a potential replacemant for plastics, leather and potentially affecting a huge percentage of consumer products. Sativa's Zach Popp is engaged in this US Army grant with a Peshtigo company, Field & Forest Products, who is among several similar regional companies in the US, clearly indicating an exciting new industry sector.
About the banks. First Citizens Bank, based out of NC, fully backs any kind of hemp enterprise to qualified borrowers. Most others, hoewever, don't know or don't care. This is politics and all politics is local. Bankers are not inclined to buck nonsense federal laws over this word "hemp", unless a friend or family member will stand to benefit. At some point this will change.
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