Renewable Chemicals Could Help Farmers, Manufacturers Alike

An increasing number of companies are using innovative chemistry and an oversupply of agricultural commodities to help replace petrochemicals in a wide range of products.

The Wall Street Journal reports that new applications for bio-based chemicals include everything from cosmetics to food packaging to vehicle seat cushions — and that industry groups hope that new research will add to the list.

The innovations come amid a multi-year slump in the prices of corn and soybeans that's squeezed farmers in the U.S.

“We stepped back and said, ‘We need to find new uses,’” Paul Bertels of the National Corn Growers Association told the Journal.

Proponents suggested that increasing the use of bio-based chemicals could not only help alleviate the commodities glut, but also lessen the impact of potentially volatile oil prices on manufacturers and benefit companies whose customers would likely pay a premium for more sustainable products.

Skeptics, meanwhile, noted that renewable chemical applications only account for a tiny fraction of the overall crop market — and that any financial benefit for farmers is far from certain. Others questioned the wisdom of diverting more food crops away from a rising global population.

Rapidly scaling up new uses for crops, however, is not without precedent. The Journal noted that the share of the domestic corn harvest used for ethanol climbed from less than 1 percent in the early 1980s to nearly 40 percent last year.

“Ford isn’t running soy in their seats because they think it’s a neat thing to do,” Keith Cockerline of the United Soybean Board told the paper. “It’s because they’re making money at it.”