Hoping to boost his tribe’s economy beyond gambling some 15 years ago, former Tribal Council member Earl Pendleton went searching for a project that could bring jobs and investment to benefit the entire Lower Sioux Indian Community.

Scrolling through YouTube videos, he saw people building homes with hempcrete, an insulation made from the woody inner core of the hemp plant. It seemed like a perfect match — a sustainable economic model rooted in the earth.

Native American farmers would grow hemp; the crop would be processed into hempcrete on the reservation. Native crews would build needed homes insulated with hempcrete.

“Earl always had this vision of having a full circular economy, a fully integrated business,” said Danny Desjarlais, who runs what’s now the Lower Sioux’s hempcrete business in rural southwestern Minnesota.