VALO founder Aaron Hickmann’s plan to make SA industrial hemp capital of Australia

The entrepreneur backing the Adelaide 500 has bought a massive warehouse in Monarto – to make building products from hemp, and create a national hub.

The major backer of this weekend’s VALO Adelaide 500 has unveiled an ambitious plan to make South Australia the industrial hemp capital of the country, and is creating a huge innovation precinct at Monarto to bring his vision to life.

Advanced manufacturer VALO has expanded into the former Big W distribution centre – a mammoth 65,000sq m facility being transformed into a production hub for hemp-based building materials.

VALO’s sister company Vircura is spearheading the project, and is working with local SA farmers to grow specific varieties suitable for processing in the facility, which stretches across an area equivalent to four AFL football ovals.

VALO and Vircura founder and chief executive Aaron Hickmann said 60ha of hemp crops had already been planted by local growers to supply the Monarto facility, which would begin production next year.

“One of the big challenges with industrial hemp farmers is they want to cultivate – they’re not necessarily wanting to manufacture, and so the Monarto Innovation Precinct becomes a central hub for the manufacturing process,” he said.

“We’re now working with these farmers and our aim is to have, by the end of 2023, 2000ha under management or cultivating, and then we’re processing that at our central facility.

The former Big W distribution centre at Monarto South, now the hemp innovation precinct run by VALO’s sister company Vircura. Supplied by Knight Frank

“We’ve worked with the Adelaide University, we’ve worked with the industrial hemp industry, with licensed farmers, and we’re looking to make South Australia the largest industrial hemp processing state in the country. We have the climate and the conditions to do so.”

Hemp is a variant of the cannabis plant, which differs from marijuana due to its much lower content of the psychoactive chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).

Vircura is looking to process hemp fibres found in the plant’s stem into materials used in insulation, hemp-derived wood products and “hempcrete”, which is made by mixing the fibres with water and lime.

VALO CEO and founder Aaron Hickmann with their latest outdoor sports field lighting panels at his offices and factory at Kent Town. Picture: Mark Brake

Hemp-based building products are emerging as environmentally-friendly alternatives to traditional materials.

Mr Hickmann, who has grown VALO into a major supplier of stadium lighting technologies, said Vircura was also looking to develop new products for the construction industry.

“We’ve invested in an Australian-made decorticator machine, which separates the fibre and the hurd of the industrial hemp,” he said.

“The hurd is used for building and construction in the form of walls, insulation, etc – it has very high-quality properties for insulation.

“We’ve got a minimum viable product, or an MVP version, kicking off in the first half of next year in terms of production through the facility, which is amazing.”

Hemp is currently being grown successfully across the state, with 25 hemp cultivation and two processing licences issued since cultivation was legalised in 2017.

Until now most of the locally grown varieties have focused on using the seeds for food products rather than the fibres found in the stem.

Mick Andersen, a former hemp grower whose business Good Country Hemp processes hemp into a variety of edible products, said Vircura’s plans would be a game-changer for the local industry.

He’s working with Vircura to co-ordinate the cultivation of hemp in the state’s South-East, and is preparing for the first dedicated harvest in March.

“This is really the first time that fibre has been commercially grown in South Australia and it’s really the start, I think, of something quite big,” he said.

The former Big W distribution centre in Monarto.

“The hemp biomass is reasonably expensive to transport so it’s important that the hemp is grown close to Monarto and the South-East region presents that quite well.

“We have excellent soil, we have excellent water … and there’s a lot of farmers in the South-East who would jump at the chance of growing hemp. I think it’s got a big future here in South Australia.”

Mr Hickmann’s vision for the Monarto hub goes further than just industrial hemp.

A research and development partnership with the University of Adelaide is looking into potential uses for 8000 Agave plants growing across the 36.5ha Monarto site, including as a potential biofuel source.

And there are plans for the facility to host university students and support training and education programs around hi-tech indoor horticulture and sustainable production methods.

The expansion also marks the launch of a new arm of the VALO business, specialising in large LED digital display screens.

Industrial hemp crop grown near Launceston.

In recent weeks 30 super screens have been assembled at Monarto for this weekend’s VALO Adelaide 500, and there are plans to supply to other motorsport events across the country, as well as The Bend Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend.

A home built with hempcrete.

More than 20 people have been employed on-site at Monarto, and there are plans for more jobs in the new year as part of Mr Hickmann’s overarching aim to “bring advanced heavy industry back to the state”.

“For VALO itself we’ve got 40 to 50 positions to fill by June next year,” he said.

“With Monarto Innovation Precinct coming online, that has the potential to be an enormous eco-hub for job opportunity.

“The more we can vertically integrate for manufacturing, and that’s our commitment to do it in South Australia, jobs naturally come with that.”

Big W closed its distribution centre in Monarto last year, and the facility was later sold to Sydney property group VIMG for $21.45m.

VALO and Vircura are leasing the premises with an option to buy, under a deal brokered by Knight Frank’s David Ludlow, Marco Onorato and Darren Benson, in conjunction with CBRE’s David Reid, Jon Nitschke and Shaun Timbrell.

VALO will continue to manufacture its stadium lighting products at its Kent Town base ahead of a move to a new facility on Greenhill Rd next year.

Originally published as VALO founder Aaron Hickmann’s plan to make SA industrial hemp capital of Australia