Innovative Products: Modern Mill ACRE

ACRE by Modern Mill is a 100% tree-free composite building material made from upcycled rice hulls, produced at the company's zero-waste facility in McComb, Miss.

The United States generates over 20 billion pounds of rice annually, with most hulls—the protective outer layer of each grain—discarded in landfills. Modern Mill sources those hulls from local farms and processes them into a structural building material available in siding, trim, decking, porch boards, fencing, large-format sheets, and custom millwork profiles, including shiplap, nickel gap, V-groove, and grooved edge.

ACRE's primary differentiator among composites is that it contains no plastic cap stock, making it the only composite on the market that can be stained or painted with water-based products—no primer required. The rice hull composition gives the material the organic grain and feel of species like cedar, ipe, teak, and mahogany. It is resistant to water, rot, pests, and splintering, and contains no VOCs, formaldehyde, phenol, adhesives, or PFAS. The material can be cut, drilled, sanded, and thermoformed using standard woodworking tools and produces no harmful dust, requiring no special PPE.

Pricing is available through Modern Mill directly and through regional distributors; samples can be ordered at modern-mill.com.