Perspective: Sunflowers seek their due, Meyer says
Bruce Meyer
From my early days at
Rubber & Plastics News, there has been much written about the research being done to find a viable alternative for natural rubber.
My former colleague Miles Moore, who retired a year ago, wrote countless stories about the work done with guayule, the shrub that thrives in the Southwest and Mexico. Back then, I wondered more about the way it was pronounced than whether someday it could become a supplier of rubber on a commercially viable scale.
In more recent years, though, work toward finding an alternative NR supply has gotten more serious, to the point that there truly is a spot on the horizon where such dreams may indeed become a reality. Most of the major tiremakers have been involved with the research, as have a number of independent entities. There has, of course, been more study into guayule, along with a lot of investment into the possibilities involving Russian dandelions.
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