2026
The 2026 AIHC Conference will be held 21 – 23 September at the Rydges Geelong Events Centre in Geelong, Victoria
Book your accommodation at Rydges Geelong and get 10% off best available price!
Crowne Plaza Geeling is also offering discounted accommodation for conference goers. Click here to check them out.
See the full conference programme below. Speaker profiles will be added as they are become available.
The proceedings from this conference will be published by AgriFutures.
Hear Joost Bakker present on his milestone project, building the dream house for Zac Efron.
Latest Programme information below
Programme
Monday Evening - 21st September
Registration, Meet and Greet
We warmly invite you to join us from 6.00pm with Geelong Mayor, Srechko “Stretch” Kontelj, for our Green Carpet Meet & Greet.
Tuesday - 22nd September
Day 1
8am Registration
8.45am start
Welcome – Richard Barge (MC)
Local Wadawurrung – Welcome
Session 1 – Richard Barge
- Opening & welcome
- Pentarch (timber & agriculture)
- Industry emergence
- Objectives & outcome
10.30 – 11.00am Morning Tea
Session 2
Materials 1 – Kirstie Wulf
- Murray Industrial hemp – Leigh Fletcher (MIH)
- AHFP – Andi Lucas (X-Hemp)
- Otetto prefab – Christopher Ball (Otetto)
- Hemp Besa Blocks – Simon Crittenden
- Testing hemp composites – Alex Webb (CSIRO)
12.30 – 1.30pm Lunch
Session 3
Materials 2 – Klara Marosszeky
- Whole hemp housing – Sabrina Lucas (Deakin University)
- Hemp Building Directory – Kirstie Wulf & Jeremy Thomas
- AI, design & sustainability – Greg Pitts (Deakin University)
- Bauhaus and industrial hemp – Patricia Jeglietsch (Bauhaus)
- Zac Effron House – Joost Bakker
- Hemp housing LCA – Md Noor E Alam Siddique (SCU)
3.00 – 3.30pm Afternoon Tea
Session 4
Materials 3 – Colin Steddy
- Hemp fibre testing – Dylan Hegh (Deakin University)
- Advanced Fibres – David Buchanan (AFC – Geelong)
- Practiced fibre processing – Travis Ryan-Salter (Rubisco Inc.)
- Ginning hemp – Carroll Cotton (Scott Davies)
- Working with hemp processors – Austeng (Davis George)
- Australian hemp for China – (Yang Yao – Uma Hemp)
- Natural fibre WTP – Swinburne (Sorada Tapsuwan)
Hemp Cooking Demonstration
Join us for an evening hemp cooking demonstration provided by Good Country Hemp.
Also included will be Hemp Vodka, Gin and beer tasting.
Wednesday - 23rd September
Day 2
Session 5
Fed. & State Inquiry – Matt Lariba
9.00 – 10.30am
- Glob. Prod. & Trade Report 2026 – Ernesto Valenzuela Dominguez (LU)
- Fed. Senate Inquiry findings – Richard Colbeck (Fed. Senate)
- Fed. Senate Inquiry findings – Maxine Shea (iHemp NSW/Hemp Collective)
- Fed. Senate Inquiry outcomes – Tim Schmidt
10.30 – 11.00am Morning Tea
Session 6
G x E inputs – Rob Eccles
- New varieties – Simon Cabout (Midlands)
- New varieties – Omid Ansari (HempGenTech)
- QTL Mapping for seed size – Stephen Manansala-Siazon (SCU) QTL
- Latrobe University
- IHVT’s – Shahajahan Miyan (DPIRD)
- Pollen Power Tech – Jason Scott (Pollen Power)
12.30 – 1.30pm Lunch
Session 7
G x E outcomes – Monika Doblin
- Growing grain – Mick Andersen
- Winter cropping – John Muir
- Gaye Krebs Grazing IH I
- Gaye Krebs Grazing IH II
- LCAs of IH Cropping Systems – Dhenber Lusanta (SCU)
3.00 – 3.30pm Afternoon Tea
Session 8
Where to next? – Phil Warner
- Industry discussion: Moving forward (what, who, how & when) – Nicola Watts and Mirjana Prica (TCI & RMIT)
- The Program of Research – Tobias Kretzschmar (SCU)
5.00pm – Close
6.30pm Gala Dinner
Thursday - 24th September
Site visits – 9.00 – 2.00pm
Deakin Carbon Nexus: Research and development center
Deakin world renowned Fibre testing facility
Hemp home visit.
Lunch included.
Cost ca $150 pp. (final price will depend on numbers)
Presenters
Details of presenters will be added as these become available
We also invite you to consider our Sponsorship and Exhibition opportunities.
Click here for further details.
Conference fee*: $700 + GST
Gala Dinner: $125 + GST
Site visits: $150 + GST (est.)
*20% Discount on Conference fee for State Association members.
Contact your Association for your Discount Code.
A special discount is also available for students to attend one or both days. Contact us for details.
We thank our Gold Sponsor
We thank our Bronze Sponsor
Supporting Sponsors
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