When I give talks about technology and innovation, I often draw on an unconventional example. One of my favorites is broomcorn—that old-fashioned crop which was a cash crop staple for many years where I grew up and was once essential for making hand-tied ‘straw’ brooms. At first glance, it seems like a footnote in agricultural history. But dig a little deeper, and broomcorn offers a surprisingly sharp lesson in disruptive innovation—and how even disruption can be disrupted.

This post started with a tiny newspaper clipping( below) from an issue of  March 9, 1950 Greeley Daily Tribune news which I found because of research for my history projects. 

Just a few lines noting that broomcorn production had surged because metals for vacuums and carpet sweepers were scarce. On the surface, it’s a simple agricultural note. But the more I looked at it, the more it connected the past and the present. Here was a story about a forgotten crop stepping back into relevance—not because it had evolved, but because its high-tech replacement had stalled. That one moment opened a window into a much bigger story about disruption, scarcity, and how innovation can sometimes be derailed by the world around it. In that sense, this little clipping didn’t just report history—it reawakened it.

Coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, disruptive innovation refers to the process by which simpler, more affordable, and initially lower-performing products or services undermine established incumbents. These innovations often take root in niche or underserved markets and gradually improve until they challenge or replace dominant players.

Mini steel mills are one of the best-known examples. In the 20th century, large integrated steel mills produced high-quality steel at massive scale. Mini mills, on the other hand, were small, scrappy operations using recycled scrap metal to make low-end products like rebar. Dismissed at first, they steadily improved—until they overtook the giants. That’s disruption.   But sometimes, the disrupted strikes back—or gets a second wind.

Broomcorn’s Brush With Obsolescence

In the early 20th century, broomcorn—a variety of sorghum—was a staple crop in rural America. Its long, stiff fibers made it perfect for binding into durable household brooms. Often people call them ‘straw’ brooms, but they are not really straw, they are broomcorn brooms.  But as electricity reached more homes and vacuum cleaners gained popularity, broomcorn started losing ground. Its decline seemed inevitable.  Then came World War II.

With metals rationed for the war effort, production of vacuums and carpet sweepers slowed dramatically. Manufacturers simply couldn’t get the materials. Consumers turned back to what they could find—and that meant brooms.    The article mentioned previously noted:

Broomcorn, on the verge of obsolescence, suddenly became essential again—not because it had improved, but because its disruptor had been disrupted.

A Sweeping Reminder

Broomcorn didn’t defeat the vacuum cleaner. But in 1944, it stepped out of retirement and back into relevance. For 30 years following WWII this crop fueled the economy of Southeast Colorado’s Baca County.   It reminds us that innovation sometimes isn’t only about what’s next—it’s about what’s available when the future stumbles.    In today’s AI-driven world, where progress is measured in compute cycles and constrained by chip shortages, we’d be wise to remember that sometimes resilience beats revolution.

A Modern Echo: When AI Met Its Broomcorn Moment

Fast forward to today, and you’ll find a surprising parallel in the rise of artificial intelligence. Modern AI systems like GPT-4 and Claude rely heavily on advanced graphics processing units (GPUs)—especially NVIDIA’s H100 chips—to function. These chips are in high demand, and increasingly, highly constrained. Some have sold for $30,000 to over $40,000 each due to scarcity and competition.   But the bottleneck goes beyond cost.

Today’s most promising innovations—AI, clean energy, quantum computing—are tightly linked to access to rare earth minerals, global manufacturing, and energy infrastructure. When those systems strain, so does the pace of progress.

We’re not just seeing adaptation—we’re seeing delay. Is innovation being stalled, not because of a lack of vision, but because the material world is imposing real limits?

Just as broomcorn reclaimed relevance when vacuum cleaner manufacturing faltered, today’s most advanced technologies are running into headwinds. The wartime economy paused implementation of newer cleaning technologies, so the question becomes are these disruptions aren’t temporary—they’re structural, and potentially long-term.

A Sweeping Reminder

Broomcorn didn’t defeat the vacuum cleaner. But for a brief time beginning in 1944, it re-entered the spotlight—not by evolving, but because its replacement became unsustainable.

The same dynamic applies today. Innovation isn’t just a function of imagination—it’s a function of access. And as we confront global shortages, shifting trade networks, and environmental constraints, we may discover that the next big leap forward depends not only on what we can build—but on what we can source, sustain, and scale.

Notes: 

Feiner, Lauren. “Nvidia’s H100 AI Chips Are Selling for More Than $40,000 on eBay.” CNBC, April 14, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/14/nvidias-h100-ai-chips-selling-for-more-than-40000-on-ebay.html

Anavo. “The Increasing Demand for Rare Earth Elements.” Accessed July 28, 2025. https://www.anavo.com/learn/the-increasing-demand-for-rare-earth-elements/.

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