Building a Climate-Smart Domestic Rubber Industry and a Solution for Growers to a Water Crisis

This project will expand natural rubber production in the Southwest with lowered greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs in the region and for tribal stakeholders, and building a climate-smart rubber bioeconomy based on climate-smart and sustainable practices. This project plans to pay a per acre per year incentive, and fund planting, harvesting and delivery of the crop to the processing facility.

The work proposed almost exclusively works with underserved and small producers, including the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Colorado River Tribes. The project aims to include marketing the rubber to Bridgestone, which is providing more than $35M in cost share to the project.

The strategy would incorporate an integrated, robust, and comprehensive approach to data measurement and analysis, which includes soil carbon and plant measurements, ground level GHG measurements, flux tower measurements, soil carbon modeling, and holistic life cycle and techno-economic modeling. Data from field measurements and modeling is planned to be used to recommend large-scale adoption and feed directly into COMET-Farm and COMET-Planner.

The project aims to include marketing the rubber to Bridgestone. Bridgestone is providing more than $35M in cost share, demonstrating its commitment to the development of the climate-smart natural rubber commodity.

Bridgestone is currently pursuing numerous market areas and has already engaged prospective customers in many of those areas. Some specific market activities by co-product/product including natural rubber latex and resin.

This project plans to pay a per acre per year incentive regardless of yield and fund planting, harvesting and delivery of the crop to the processing facility. The work proposed almost exclusively works with underserved and small producers, including the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Colorado River Tribes.