Doug Rennie is a third-generation farmer and regenerative agriculture trail-blazer. With a mix of changing climate and soil degradation biting hard on the farm’s productivity, his family is now exploring the cultivation and commercialization of industrial hemp. He talks about the challenges of introducing hemp as a viable crop in Australia, dealing with regulatory hurdles, production complexities, and market development.

Alongside a host of collaborators in the production cycle, his work reveals hemp's extraordinary potential in both the sequestrating of carbon and as a carbon negative, super strong sustainable building material.

Climate360° joined Doug at Eagle Masonry, a brick manufacturer to the south-east of Melbourne, where final stage prototyping was underway to prove the structural and commercial viability of hempcrete bricks. This work follows in the footsteps of other hemp-based building innovations like Hexcore (a composite timber panel replacement) and hempcrete.

About Climate360°

Climate360° is a podcast series that explores how climate impacts health, economics, politics, science, farming, manufacturing and everything else. We will explore the challenges of a changing climate, while throwing a light on a rich community of innovators and activists, professionals and academics, makers and motivators, who are leading the way in how we might respond to our changing climate.

It is an initiative of Sam Redston and Andrew Mackenzie.

Special thanks to:

Doug and Paul Rennie and the team at Outback Hemp, Joost Bakker and to Eagle Masonry.

We acknowledge that we work and create on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung and Boon Wurrung People of the Eastern Kulin Nation, and we pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. Always was. Always will be.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climate360.substack.com