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A nonfood crop, also known as industrial crop, is a crop grown to produce goods for manufacturing, for example fibre for clothing, rather than food for consumption.
Purpose
Industrial crops is a designation given to an enterprise that attempts to raise farm sector income, and provide economic development activities for rural areas. Industrial crops also attempt to provide products that can be used as substitutes for imports from other nations.
Diversity
The range of crops with non-food uses is broad, but includes traditional arable crops like wheat, as well as less conventional crops like hemp and Miscanthus. Products made from non-food crops can be categorised by function:
| Function | Products | Crop examples |
|---|---|---|
| Biofuels and bioenergy (energy crops) | Bioethanol, biobutanol, biodiesel, syngas and bioenergy | Algae, Buchloe dactyloides, Jatropha, and switchgrass |
| Building and construction | Hemp-lime building materials, Straw building materials, Insulation, Paints, varnishes | Hemp, wheat, linseed (flax), bamboo |
| Fiber | Paper, cloth, fabric, padding, string, twine, and rope | Coir, cotton, flax, hemp, manila hemp, papyrus, sisal |
| Pharmaceuticals (traditional) and therapeutic proteins (novel) | Drugs, botanical and herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, plant-made pharmaceuticals | Borage, Cannabis sativa, Echinacea, Artemisia, Tobacco |
| Renewable biopolymers | Rubber, Plastics and packaging | Rubber, Wheat, maize, potatoes |
| Speciality chemicals | Essential oils, printing ink, paper coatings | Lavender, oilseed rape, linseed, hemp |
See also
- Biofuel
- Bioplastics
- Biopolymer
- Cash crops
- Cellulosic biofuel
- Energy crop
- Food vs fuel
- Helix of sustainability
- Intensive crop farming
- National Non-Food Crops Centre
- Renewable Energy
References
- "Industrial Crop Production (journal)". Grace Communications Foundation. 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
- "Author Information Pack". INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS An International Journal. Elsevier. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
- Cruz, Von Mark V.; Dierig, David A. (2014). Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts. Springer. pp. 9 and passim. ISBN 978-1-4939-1447-0.
- Wilson, Paul N.; James C. Wade; Julie P. Leones (2006). "The economics of commercializing new industrial crops". Agribusiness. 11: 45–55. doi:10.1002/1520-6297(199501/02)11:1<45::AID-AGR2720110106>3.0.CO;2-H. Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 25 February 2009.