Seaweed for War: California's World War I Kelp Industry

a severe shortage of supplies to meet that demand, especially for explosives. When hostilities began in August 1914, Germany was the leading manufacturer of chemicals and, in particular, controlled the world's largest supply of mineral potash. Potash, an organic compound, is a major component of most plant fertilizers and is also used in the manufacture of black gunpowder. Germany placed an embargo on potash exports immediately after the start of the Great War, cutting off sales to the United States, which was the world's largest consumer of potash fertilizers. In Great Britain, the war created an enormous demand for cordite (smokeless gunpowder) and the acetone used to produce it. Responding to this wartime opportunity, enterprising American businessmen built a new industry designed to extract both potash and acetone from California's giant kelp. Although short-lived, California's World War I kelp industry was the largest ever created in the United States for the processing of plants from the ocean.'