chemurgyn.
/ˈkɛməːdʒi/, U.S. /ˈkɛmərdʒi/ Chiefly U.S. Now chiefly historical.
The use of organic raw materials, esp. agricultural products, in the chemical industry; the application of chemical engineering to natural products.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > use of farm products
chemurgy1934
1934 W. J. Hale Farm Chemurgic xi. 141 It is only within recent years that anything like uniformity and purity could be secured for basic chemical compounds of agricultural origin; hence the art and science of working towards the production of such material has made necessary a somewhat more embracive term;—such term is Chemurgy.
1937 J. A. Widtsoe in Pacific Northwest Chemurgic Conference with Washington State Planning Council 56 The objective of Chemurgy is development of crops that may be used in factories.
1939 Industr. & Engin. Chem. (Industr. ed.) 31 540 Farm chemurgy is defined as putting chemistry to work for the farm.
1966 Jrnl. Farm Econ. 48 132/2 The programs are thwarting the development of chemurgy and accelerating the development of synthetics based on nonfarm ingredients.
1994 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91 8475/2 The chemurgy of the taxane derivatives could well modulate their biological effects.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1934