This Tribe in Kansas is Building New Products — and Houses — With its Hemp

By Celia Llopis-Jepsen

Hundreds of huge, round bales lay arranged in neat rows and stacks outside Prairie Band Ag’s processing facility north of Topeka.

At just under 6 feet in diameter, they weighed about 1,000 pounds each. At a glance, they looked like any other hay bale dotting the Kansas countryside.

“ It’s baled using the same baler and everything,” said Zach Gill, the production manager at the tribally owned company. “If you can bale corn silage or corn stalks, you can bale hemp.”

Prairie Band Ag’s hemp bales are destined to become a wide variety of products, including compostable forks, spill absorbents and horse bedding. The company even produced its first bioplastics this fall.

And soon, Kansas State University and Habitat for Humanity of the Northern Flint Hills will finish building a low-energy house in Ogden that’s partly insulated with Prairie Band Ag hemp.