ROLE OFTHE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE H. T. HERRICK Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
HI E M I C A L T e c h -
ing cornstalks, cottonstalks, and sugar cane bagasse for the manufacture of paper. Again in 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911, studies were carried out by the Bureau of Chemistry alone, and later in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry, on the possibility of the utilization of these same materials and others in the manufacture of paper, and mill runs of pulp and paper of good quality were produced. A bulletin printed on the paper made from these materials was published in 1911 as Bureau of Plant Industry Circular No. 82, “Crop Plants for Paper Making” (now out of print). The conclusion was reached, however, that none of the materials proposed as sources of paper pulp could compete under the conditions existing in 1911 with rags, wood, straw, and other commonly used fibers on a quality or cost basis, except possibly under special local conditions.
nology, while n o t directly concerned with the tillage of the fields, has done a wonderful work in establishing agriculture as a scientific profession and assuring its future against the principal dangers which menace it. * * * The application of t h e principles of chemical technology to the elaboration of . . . raw agricultural products has added a new value to the products of the farm, opened up new avenues of prosperity, and developed new staple crops.” That is sound agrochemical doctrine that might have emanated from one of the gatherings which have recently been so active in furthering the application of industrial utilization to all products of the farm. And yet it was said nearly forty years ago by Harvey W. Wiley in an article on the. relation of chemistry to the progress of agriculture, which appeared in the United States Department of Agriculture Year Book for 1899. Nor was that the beginning of the department’s contribution to the cause of the industrial utilization of agricultural products, for its interest in this field even antedates its existence as an organized department. Early reports of the Commissioners of Agriculture, the predecessors of the present Secretaries of Agriculture, reflect a keen interest in the utilization of chemistry for the expansion of existing uses and the creation of new outlets for agricultural products. Most chemists are acquainted with the work of Wiley, of Veitch, and of their many successors in the development of various phases of the problem of the utilization of agricultural products for purposes other than the classical “food, shelter, and raiment.” But so many statements have appeared from time to time whose authors were apparently unaware of the department’s many accomplishments in this field, that a brief catalog of these achievements should again be placed on record. It is difficult to say just, where the Department of Agriculture’s work on industrial utilization did begin. The first technical and scientific publication by the Commissioners of Agriculture was Report No. 3 (1862), a study of the suitability of American grapes for the establishment of an American wine industry. There is a special report of 101 pages on analytical and other work done on sorghum and cornstalks, which was published as early as 1881. Others of a similar nature followed from time to time. I n 1904 attention was given to technical problems of a chemical character in the utilization of plant fibers from waste materials, includ-
Alcohol from Agricultural Products During the past few years and in ever-increasing volume we have been told about the production of power or fuel alcohol from agricultural raw materials as the panacea for the problems of the farmer. The idea is not new. From 1906 to 1910 extensive experiments on the manufacture of industrial alcohol were carried on by the Department of Agriculture. Wood, molasses, sweet potatoes, cornstalks, white potatoes, cassava, cannery wastes, watermelons, cantaloupes, applesall received attention and several bulletins (now out of print) were published. The department even went so far as to build an experimental distillery with a capacity of 80 to 100 gallons a day and to operate it in connection with a course of about forty lectures given to representatives of various state agricultural experiment stations and others interested in the subject. The lectures dealt with equipment to be used in a distillery, raw materials available for the production of alcohol, and the principles and practices of yeast making and fermentation, as well as of distillation, and later were published as Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin 130. How many of the proponents of the alcohol idea are familiar with that work? Although the situation has changed with the advent of the automobile and the development of many improved methods of alcohol production, the basic fermentation procedure has not changed, and yeast still refuses to make more than 1 pound of alcohol from 2 pounds of carbohydrate. If not the determining factor, this is still the basic element in the situation and must be given full weight when the commercial production of alcohol for any purpose is contemplated from agricultural raw materials. The production of power alcohol which is not destined for human consumption is a different problem in many respects from that of industrial alcohol as it has been made in the past, and the possibility of reduction in costs may lie along this line. Only time and research will tell the story. The writer is not out of sympathy with the development of alcohol from agricultural products as a motor fuel. There is a future for an agricultural motor fuel, whether alcohol or 142
FEBRUARY, 1939
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
143
Practically all the earlier work which was outlined in the foregoing paragraphs was carried out in Washington. Of late the location has changed. Starting with the establishment of the Citrus Products Laboratory in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1914, and continuing up to the founding of the Regional Soybean Industrial Products Laboratory a t Urbana, Ill., in 1936, the policy of taking the research to the crop production center has been followed. It has culminated in the authorization by the 75th Congress (February, 1938) for four regional research laboratories to be established, one for each of the main agricultural producing areas of the United States. An annual appropriation of a million dollars is made
composition which will give rise to an apparent similarity in program and actual duplication of effort unless special care is taken to prevent it. The recognition of this possibility is the first step towards its prevention. Again, this same similarity of composition results in competition for the same markets between agricultural commodities from widely different sources. For example, corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, and lard compete for a place in the food oil market, and soybean oil, linseed oil, and tung oil are competitive in the paint and varnish industry. The development of a new product may drive an older product from the field, or a new method of production may result in a shift of basic raw materials, with no ultimate benefit to agriculture. What are we going to do about this, especially when we are faced with the problems of laboratories in the field with research programs dealing with competitive products? The research workers of the Department of Agriculture can take no sides in the struggle but must det&mine the potentiality of every agricultural product and make these potentialities known to the public, confident that in the long run knowledge pays better than ignorance. The funds for these laboratories became available on July 1, 1938, including authorization to use a hundred thousand dollars to “conduct a survey to determine the location of said laboratories and the scope of the investigations to be made and to coordinate the research work now being carried on.” The problems arising in the creation of these four laboratories are being approached with two objectives in mind, buildings and program. One committee has been formed in the Department of Agriculture to formulate construction plans, in so far as this can be done prior to the selection of the final locations. These laboratories will embody all that is latest and best in the design and equipment of industrial research laboratories.
for each of these laboratories. The laboratories are “to conduct researches into and to develop new scientific, chemical, and technical uses and new and extended markets and outlets for farm commodities and products and by-products thereof. Such research and development shall be devoted primarily to those farm commodities of which there are regular or seasonal surpluses, and their products and byproducts.” I n organizing the work of these laboratories, one of the great problems will be the elimination of duplication in research. Although agricultural products differ in many respects, there is a broad general similarity in their basic
A second committee is charged with carrying on the survey. Directors for the regional producing areas have been chosen, and they are now working in the field to become familiar with the research projects of the state agricultural experiment stations, educational institutions, privately endowed research laboratories, and industrial research laboratories, in so far as the policies of the latter will permit the giving of information. It will be the expectation of the regional research laboratories to fill in the gaps in current research and to avoid needless duplication of work that is now being carried on, provided that enough is known about what is going on to afford a firm foundation for the develop-
some other product. The time and permanency of the development will depend on economic factors which must be met either by further research or by a change in present conditions. But there is little likelihood that motorists will pay a premium for alcohol-gasoline mixtures unless they show definite superiority, and farmers may hesitate to accept substandard prices for their crops. If and when these difficulties are solved, then motor fuel will take its true place as an outlet for the farmer’s surplus crops. The problem of power alcohol from agricultural products will be discussed in more detail in a following paper (page 162). Examples of other products which have been investigated by the Department of Agriculture are as follows: cellulose from various sources; furfural, xylose, adhesives, etc., from the pentosan-containing materials; naval stores; starch from sweet potatoes; new uses for milk and lactic acid; citric acid from lemons; pectin from apple waste; various products from the soybean, etc. The catalog is a long one and covers widely diversified industrial objectives.
Regional Laboratories
144
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
VOL. 31, NO. 2
The four regional producing areas have now been determined and are made up as follows: North: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; East: Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, %ode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas; West: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. A list of the agricultural commodities which will be given primary attention in the regional laboratories has also been established, They are as follows: SOUTH
ARTICLESPRODUCED FROM PLASTIC MATERIALDERIVED FROM SUQAR CANEBAQASSE ment of a program. A report of this survey is expected to issue early this year. This survey has offered an opportunity rarely presented to an executive agency. The Congress and the nation, particularly the farm groups, industry, and scientific institutions are undoubtedly sympathetic to a program of industrial-agricultural.research. Apparently, however, there is some doubt as to what is now being done in the field and what should constitute a program that will be sufficiently broad and offer possibilities of real accomplishment. The committee needs facts and advice to guide it in an intelligent appraisal of research undertakings and research potentialities. The Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the states hopes to develop a systematized program of research projects in the field of the industrial utilization of farm crops which is carefully coordinated with research already under way in the department, the land grant colleges, other educational institutions, experiment stations, and industrial laboratories. Such a program should represent a carefully thought out policy with respect to the broad ultimate objectives of such research, and to the whole concept of field research on a regional basis in its relationships to the centralized research now being carried on in Washington. The need for research on the industrial utilization of farm products is generally admitted by those familiar with the situation. It is a challenge to the agencies interested to present these needs in such a clear fashion that there shall be 'no doubt as to what is considered the desirable type of research and the proper methods of developing it.
Cotton Sweet potatoes Peanuts
NORTH Corn Wheat Farm wastes
EAST Apples Potatoes and truck Tobacoo Milk products
WEST Fruits and vegetables Wheat Potatoes Alfalfa
There is one point that may be fully apparent to chemists but that is probably not so clear to the lay mind. The salvation of the farmer through research is not immediately at hand. The agricultural millennium is not just around the corner. Much remains to be done and much will be done, but anyone familiar with the measured progress of a wellorganized research program must realize that a t least ten years must pass before the full impact of this mass research on the problem of industrial utilization of agricultural products becomes apparent. A properly balanced program of fundamental and applied research, including chemical engineering developments, calls €or years of effort before it can be operating a t full effect. We ask your patience and your assistance in the development of this program, in which the role of the Department of Agriculture is t o provide industry with new raw materials for new and valuable products and to furnish the farmer with a market for his special and surplus crops. RECEIVED September 12, 1938.
HARVESTING SOYBEANS WITH
A
COMBINE
