Hemp Building Directory takes the stage at the Australian Industrial Hemp Conference
Presentation crux
Cooperate to grow the market;
Compete to improve the products within it.
Why we’re presenting at AIHC
On 21 September 2026, Kirstie Wulf and I (Jeremy Thomas) will be up on stage at the September 2026 Australian Industrial Hemp Conference (AIHC) at the Rydges Geelong Events Centre. We’ve been welcomed to present around to our work with the Hemp Building Directory.
Join us for our presentation in Session 3: Materials 2, chaired by Klara Marosszeky from AHMC, straight after lunch (from around 1:30pm).
In good company the same session features Sabrina Lucas from Deakin University on whole hemp housing, Patricia Jeglietsch from Bauhaus on industrial hemp, Md Noor E Alam Siddique from SCU on hemp housing life-cycle assessment, and a look at the Zac Efron House with Joost Bakker joining via Zoom.
Full details on the day’s program are on our AIHC 2026 event page.
What we’re covering
Our talk centres on cooperation & competition to grow the market, drawn from a paper Kirstie has written that will be published through AgriFutures Australia. Once it’s live, we’ll be publishing Kirstie’s paper in full on the Hemp Building Directory. For now the draft abstract below gives a solid preview of the presentation.
The short version: the Australian hemp building materials industry is still small enough that individual businesses aren’t really competing with each other. The real competitor is conventional construction. That means testing, standards, training, research and advocacy work better as shared, pre-competitive effort, while individual businesses still compete on their own products, price, service and installation systems. A centralised, industry-wide directory like ours is one piece of the infrastructure that makes that possible.
Draft abstract
The transition towards lower-carbon construction requires not only improvements in established building products but also the successful development and diffusion of alternative materials. Hemp-based building materials, including hemp-lime composites, hemp blocks and prefabricated hemp-based wall systems, have emerged as potential contributors to this transition because of their low-density, thermal, hygrothermal and potentially low-carbon characteristics. Despite increasing technical knowledge and market interest, their adoption within Australia remains limited. The barriers to uptake are not solely associated with the intrinsic properties of the materials. Rather, many are systemic and arise from fragmented supply chains, limited regulatory recognition, shortages of skilled labour, insufficient professional familiarity, limited consumer awareness and inconsistent availability of independently verified technical information.
This article examines the relationship between cooperation and competition in the development of the Australian hemp building materials industry. It argues that emerging material industries require substantial pre-competitive cooperation to establish the market infrastructure necessary for competition to become effective. At the current stage of industry development, the principal competition facing hemp building materials is not between individual hemp products but between hemp-based materials and established conventional construction products. Cooperation in areas such as testing, standards, education, research, training, advocacy and environmental assessment can therefore increase the collective legitimacy and market visibility of the industry while allowing individual firms to compete through product innovation, manufacturing efficiency, installation systems, service and price.
The article also examines strategies for marketing novel hemp building materials and argues that market development should be based on measurable and independently verified performance rather than generalised environmental claims. Finally, it considers the role of industry-wide directories as a form of market infrastructure capable of reducing information asymmetries, connecting fragmented supply chains and contributing to collective industry legitimacy. The Hemp Building Directory is considered as an example of how a centralised information platform can support the transition of hemp-based construction from a niche activity towards a recognised component of the broader sustainable construction sector.
Why the directory matters
The case for the Hemp Building Directory in one sentence: fragmented industries don’t grow because one product wins, they grow because buyers, builders and regulators can find reliable information about the whole sector in one place. That’s the gap HBD sits in. Connecting growers, processors, builders, designers and researchers, and giving the industry a shared shopfront while individual businesses still compete on their own merits.
If you’re heading to AIHC, come find us in Session 3. And if you’re not able to make it to Geelong, watch this space, Kirstie’s full paper will be published on the Hemp Building Directory as soon as AgriFutures releases it.
FAQ
When are Kirstie Wulf and Jeremy Thomas presenting at AIHC 2026?
They’re presenting on Day 1, 21 September 2026, in Session 3: Materials 2, starting around 1:30pm at the Rydges Geelong Events Centre.
What is the AgriFutures paper about?
It examines the balance of cooperation and competition needed to grow the Australian hemp building materials industry, arguing that shared pre-competitive work (testing, standards, training, advocacy) builds the market infrastructure that lets individual businesses compete effectively.
Where can I read the full paper?
The full paper will be published on the Hemp Building Directory once it’s released through AgriFutures Australia.
Who else is speaking in the same session?
Session 3 also features Sabrina Lucas (Deakin University) on whole hemp housing, Patricia Jeglietsch (Bauhaus), Md Noor E Alam Siddique (SCU) on hemp housing LCA, and Joost Bakker on the Zac Efron House.
How do I get tickets to AIHC 2026?
Tickets and the full program are available via the Australian Industrial Hemp Conference website.
Disclaimer
HBD do not warrant the quality or experience of anyone listed on this directory.
We have relied on the information provided by the business and its representatives.
This site is not intended to provide and does not constitute building advice, or other professional advice.
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