Hemp fibers are among the strongest natural materials grown in Kentucky. Recent Farm Bills have allowed farmers to experiment with growing hemp to be potentially used in many consumer products. At the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s North Farm, UK Cooperative Extension Professor and Hemp Specialist in the Plant and Soil Science department Bob Pearce led a project to turn their hemp crop into flooring.

Pearce had worked with Kentucky company HempWood in the past and seen its flooring product up close. He knew quickly he wanted to bring this process to North Farm so his students could participate and learn alongside him.

“In a lot of the work we do, once the product is sold off the farm, we don’t see what happens to it,” Pearce said. “In this instance we were able to see it go from the field to the finished product.”

In 2022, North Farm had some large hemp plantings, which inspired Pearce to reach out to HempWood. Now, every day when he walks into work, he is reminded of the fruits of his and his students’ labor.

To create the flooring, the hemp stalk is crushed to open the cell structure, then dipped into a soy glue. It is then dried like tobacco and pressed into a block shape, resulting in a dense block. The pattern of the floor is determined by the method the blocks are cut; horizontally results in a live sawn grain and vertically in a rift & quarter sawn grain. It is then laid up on a PureBond® plywood backer using soy glue to make a durable flooring 20% harder than hickory.

"We're proud to partner with University of Kentucky, to use Kentucky hemp grown by Kentucky farmers and flooring manufactured right here in the Bluegrass State for our schools," said Greg Wilson, CEO of HempWood. "It's been a dream working with the team at UK as our values for creating a safe, healthy space for students and educators are perfectly aligned. As the 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Kentucky, we take pride in being the sustainable, luxury flooring option helping to create a safe atmosphere for UK's students and educators."

Pearce’s career in agriculture has been mostly centered around tobacco. While he still works in that space, hemp has been pleasantly surprising him. He notes it is exciting, wondering what uses we will find next for hemp.

“Kentucky ag is not static,” Pearce said. “It is evolving, and crops are emerging as new enterprises for growers to tap into. It’s fun to be a part of that process on the research farm.”

###

The Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment is an Equal Opportunity Organization with respect to education and employment and authorization to provide research, education information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, physical or mental disability or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.