Post by Anton Maertens

The Rise of Hemp Although Flanders is not the biggest hemp region, its rise in agricultural cultivation is quite impressive. Without the year being finished, there's almost a hundred times more hemp hectares in Flanders, than 5 years ago: from a humble 6 hectares to a whopping 512 hectares half year (!). Often called one of the 50 plants that changed history, hemp is such an interesting material because of its versatility: - for phytoremediation (to clean up polluted soils) see the research of prof Sofie Thijs and the work of CBIOTECH, Frederik Verstraete & Erik De Bruyn https://lnkd.in/e_F87kcM - for excellent building insulation materials such as hempcrete (blocks, walls and floor), see IsoHemp, & EXIE NV in Flanders with the CaNaDry solution (Axel Segers) that are permeable, energy efficient & great for summer insulation (you know what i'm talking about if you've been in Belgium for the last weeks :). - a fast growing plant that can be an intermediary and capture 8 to 22 tons of CO2 per hectare: much better than many other methods. - and lastly but not least: it can fix nitrogen into the ground (a not to be underestimated asset in the Low Countries). Its origin dates back to several milennia before Christ (Japan, China,..) but it's very clear that hemp is a very important plant for this 21st century, and our common, global fight against climate change 🙏 . More info? -Architectural exemples in the The Architectural Review , by Justinien Tribillon https://lnkd.in/eJvcaUb9 -VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship has a living lab VLAIO Living Lab Hennep+, colead by Pieter Beerten - the Interreg Hemp4Circularity (that are organizing many events on sowing hemp, next one the 4th of August : https://lnkd.in/ef88VTGT ), with 11 partners Valbiom, Inagro vzw, HOGENT, Hyler®, SAFILIN,.. and many more - the other 49 plants that changed history? You can find the book here : https://lnkd.in/eXPcRHzw - more experts to follow? Bart D'Haese knows the in's & out's of building use!