The Rubber Frontier

Bridgestone’s Big Bet on a Dusty Little Shrub

I recently worked on an assignment for The Washington Post as part of their Innovations Project, photographing guayule (why-OO-lee)—a scrappy desert shrub that just might change everything about how we make tires in this country.

I visited Bridgestone’s 281-acre farm in Eloy, Arizona, where agricultural scientists are studying guayule and preparing for large-scale production in the Southwest. This resilient plant has the potential to significantly disrupt the tire industry and reduce U.S. dependence on global rubber supply chains.

For more on guayule’s cool history and bright future, give Hannah Ziegler’s excellent story a read.

Mark Newell, Bridgestone’s Chief Agricultural Scientist

Guayule Plant

Guayule Stem

Abby Emperado, Senior Agricultural Technician

New Plants in the Greenhouse

Abby Emperado’s Tattoo of a Rubber Molecule

Dried Guayule

Seed Processing