The leftovers of the tall industrial hemp plant often languish on Montana farms because they're difficult to till back into fields or otherwise dispose of. But it's because those stalks are so tough and woody that this agricultural byproduct is finding a new purpose in a lab at Montana State University.
In a research project funded in part by the Montana Farmers Union, Drew McNally, a junior majoring in civil engineering, combines the plant's chipped-up inner stalk, called hurd, with a lime-based binder to make what's called hempcrete.
