Old Efforts at New Uses: A Brief History of Chemurgy and the American Search for Biobased Materials

Mark R. Finlay

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2003, vol. 7, issue 3‐4, 33-46

Abstract: The American search for biobased and renewable raw materials has a long history of intermittent success and frustration. This article traces the history of the chemurgy movement‐a precursor to what are now sometimes called agricultural “new uses” initiatives‐from its context of the 1920s through its emergence as a political force in the mid‐1930s, when chemurgy offered a strategy for industries and governments interested in reviving the agricultural economy and reducing dependence upon foreign sources of industrial raw materials. Chemurgists put pressure upon the U.S. Department of Agriculture to devote greater attention to crop utilization research, efforts that were operational in time to make important contributions to the U.S. economy during World War II. This article devotes considerable attention to the postwar era, a period not discussed in most histories of chemurgy. The article concludes with a tentative assessment of issues that caused chemurgy to falter in the past as well as precautionary lessons for the contemporary study of biobased materials.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1162/108819803323059389

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:inecol:v:7:y:2003:i:3-4:p:33-46

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1088-1980

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Industrial Ecology is currently edited by Reid Lifset

More articles in Journal of Industrial Ecology from Yale University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().