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A Plan to Save America’s Rubber Soul | Ambrook Research

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For more than a decade, Jody Scott tended shrubs in a dry field in southern Arizona. A lifelong farmer of myriad crops, Scott calls this the most boring thing he’s ever grown. And growing it, he said, “was the funnest job I ever had.” Read Next A Domestic Vanilla Industry Is Slowly Unfurling in Florida Texas Lost More Than Half of This Year’s Cotton Crop to Drought. Could Hemp Be the Salvation? Everyone Should Grow Bamboo! No One Should Grow Bamboo! Guayule, (pronounced “why-you-lee”) is the shrub in question, a resilient native of the Chihuahuan desert. Its woody stems grow about two feet high and produce small, whitish-yellow flowers. It grows wild in parts of Texas and Mexico, but it’s also easy to cultivate and grow on farms throughout the region. Drought-tolerant and disinclined to disease, there’s not much that bothers it. “The only time this plant is vulnerable is when it’s really young,” said Scott. “Birds and insects think the seedlings are tasty, but once it gets up around si

Rubber may be the most important agricultural product in America — and it’s in danger. Now, scientists and growers are working to cultivate solutions. For more than a decade, Jody Scott tended shrubs in a dry field in southern Arizona. A lifelong farmer of myriad crops, Scott calls this the most boring thing he’s ever grown. And growing it, he said, “was the funnest job I ever had.” Read Next A Domestic Vanilla Industry Is Slowly Unfurling in Florida Texas Lost More Than Half of This Year’s Cotton Crop to Drought. Could Hemp Be the Salvation? Everyone Should Grow Bamboo! No One Should Grow Bam

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