Carbohydrates replace hydrocarbons.
We rely on vegetables to supply not only our stomachs but our factories. Cultivators and their surrounding regions capture a significant portion of the revenue generated by converting plants into industrial products and fuels. This system would entail a fundamental change in both the raw materials foundation of our industrial economy and in the ownership structure of our manufacturing sector. Congress is about to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars to fund that effort. The media are beginning to carry stories about companies making plastics from corn, lubricants from vegetable oils and car bodies from hemp and flax.