Guayule shrub being harvested in Eloy, Arizona

Bridgestone, a global leader in tires and rubber, has announced an additional commitment of $42 million to establish commercial operations for planting and harvesting guayule – a woody desert shrub that serves as a source of natural rubber. The plant, which is heat tolerant and thrives in desert settings, is much more environmentally sustainable than Hevea brasiliensis (the Pará “rubber tree”), which serves as today’s primary global source of rubber.

Guayule’s tolerance for warm, arid climates could make it an ideal crop for farmers in America’s desert southwest. Not only is the shrub easy to grow, but it requires as little as half the water of existing desert crops such as alfalfa and cotton. Farmers may also plant, raise, and harvest guayule with existing row-crop equipment, allowing farmers to transition to the new crop with little expense.

“We’re extremely bullish on the potential for guayule as a domestic source of strategically critical materials, such as rubber, hypoallergenic latex, building material adhesives, and renewable fuel, just to name a few. We’re thrilled to be taking this major step toward commercialization before the end of the decade,” said Nizar Trigui, Chief Technology Officer and Group President, Solutions Businesses, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. “With guayule, we can reduce the environmental impacts that come with overseas sourcing while also realizing a more sustainable agricultural system for parts of this country that are facing persistent and worsening climate conditions, so it’s really something with many benefits for our environment and our economy.”

Bridgestone’s commitment to guayule research goes back an entire decade as part of the company’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality and make tires from 100 percent renewable materials by 2050.

In 2012, the company broke ground on a processing and research center in Mesa, Arizona. Today, the Mesa center is complemented by a 281-acre guayule farm in Eloy, Arizona. The company has invested more than $100 million to commercialize guayule, and its efforts have been fruitful. In 2015, the company produced its first tire from guayule-derived natural rubber. In 2022, Firestone Firehawk race tires made with guayule-derived natural made their competition debut as an alternate race tire at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee.

As part of the new $42 million commitment, Bridgestone will partner and collaborate with Native American tribes and local U.S. farmers to increase crop sizes. This coming year, the global leader expects 350 new acres of the shrub to be planted. Eventually, up to 25,000 additional acres will be farmed. As a result, the company expects to have sustainable commercial production of guayule-derived natural rubber by the end of this decade.