Progress 07/15/21 to 04/09/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Symposium Participants/Contributors:40 people either vetual or in-person Dempsey-Miller Kimberley American Chemical Society, Rubber Division Chair Finn Jim Akron Dispersions Madden Tim American Sustainable Rubber Dierig David Bridgestone Americas/SBAR Niaura William Bridgestone Americas/SBAR White Bob Bridgestone Americas/SBAR Quinn Jason Colorado State University/SBAR Csonka Steve Commercial Aviation Alt. Fuels Initiative Colvin Howard Cooper Tire (retired) Young Corinne Corinne Young LLC Chan Justin DOD-Defense Logistics Agency Bextine Blake DOD-DARPA Simmons Blake DOE -Berkeley National Lab Babson David DOE-ARPA-E Abdullah Zia DOE-National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Beckham Greg DOE-NREL Brown Nate DOT-Federal Aviation Administration Woodburn David Edison Agrosciences Cornish Katrina EnergyEne, Ohio State (OSU) Moran Kevin Environmental Defense Fund Barrara Cindy Ford Motor Company Swiger Dan Kultevat Holladay John Lanzatech Lorey Don Michelin America Brewer Catie New Mexico State U (NMSU)/SBAR Dehghanizadeh Mostafa NMSU/SBAR Shalygin Sergei NMSU/SBAR Carter Dominique White House/Office of Science and Technology Policy Fresnedo Jonathan OSU Michel Fred OSU Ortez Osler OSU Puskas Judit OSU Marsh Tom Pioneer-Balloon Luckett Whitney Simko NA Ogden Kim U Arizona (UA)/SBAR Pradyawong Mimi UA/SBAR Rogstad Alix UA/SBAR Finkenstadt Victoria USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Lester Gene USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Ponciano Grisel USDA-ARS Resendiz Mariano USDA-ARS Orts William USDA-ARS-WRRC McMahan Colleen USDA-ARS-WRRC/SBAR Shields Scott USDA-NIFA Chitnis Parag USDA-NIFA, Associate Director Xiarchos Meg USDA-OCE Zankowski Paul USDA- Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) Bredlau Justin USDA-OCS Goldner Bill USDA-OCS Kroh Gretchen USDA-OCS Cassidy Chris USDA-Rural Development Wang Jingxin West Virginia University Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The conference has provided "Opportunity", and a "path to success" now what is needed is the commercialization of a domestic source of natural rubber. The largest hurtles are funds necessary to establish the crops and the funds to establish the facilities to process crops into the end-products needed to expand the economy. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Conference Agenda Brief Updates & Overview, ~5 minutes each Opening remarks and OCS update - Bill Goldner, USDA OCS ARS update - Colleen McMahan, USDA ARS Guayule and SBAR update - Kim Ogden, University of Arizona TKS update - Tim Madden, American Sustainable Rubber TKS update - Dan Swiger, Kultevat Edison Agroscience's sunflower rubber overview - David Woodburn, Edison Agrosciences Stakeholder/policy maker interactions - Whitney Luckett, Simko USA Discussion How do we elevate the case for domestic natural rubber now? Key commodity, threats, new advances enabling domestic production, opportunities, etc. Advancing commercialization of domestic natural rubber How do we build a shared vision (speaking with one voice)? Natural rubber is the driver Coproducts are secondary, but could improve economics and sustainability How do we get there (Developing a roadmap for R&D, demonstration, and scale-up to commercialization)? Roles - government, industry, and who else needs to be involved? Funding/investment pathways - research and commercialization needs, economic development, and Infrastructure Bill funding opportunities? Policy/Incentives Communication plan Industry white papers - transportation sector, specialty rubber sector Outreach to policy makers/legislators (external) Federal Natural Rubber Interagency Working Group linked to stakeholders (internal) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
To elevate the importance of a domestic natural rubber market, stakeholders suggested: (1) Increasing funding for R&D and commercialization: USDA and other Federal agencies currently fund R&D of natural rubber production from guayule and TKS. Continued research is required for genomic resources and germplasm development, crop management, improving extraction methods, and development of co-products from rubber extraction to scale production. Investments in infrastructure and workforce development will also enable commercialization. USDA can help build capacity through Rural Development loan guarantees and training integrated into NIFA funded projects. (2) Coordinating interagency collaboration on domestic sources of rubber: Domestic natural rubber is of interest to national security, healthcare, and transportation, among other sectors. Apart from USDA, U.S. agencies with interest in domestic natural rubber sources include Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and National Science Foundation. Stakeholders recommended the formation of an interagency working group to foster collaboration on this topic and to work with industry to address challenges to domestic natural rubber more wholistically. This IWG could be housed under the Biomass Research and Development Board which already coordinates interagency collaboration on biofuel feedstock production and logistics. (3) Engaging with growers: Regional growers should be consulted on developing best practices for growing natural rubber crops. There are potential opportunities for growers to add guayule and TKS to their regional crop portfolios. As information is developed, growers need to be educated on the economic benefits of transitioning portions of their land to grow these crops. In the arid southwest, where irrigation water is now a critical issue, guayule may be a regional "opportunity" crop that uses approximately half the irrigation of traditionally grown crops. TKS has the potential to be planted across acreage in temperate regions. TKS may also emerge as a multiuse crop grown commercially in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. (4) Discussions during the meeting the industry stakeholders in this emerging industry will collectively push for the inclusion of guayule and TKS in the 2023 Farm Bill to increase R&D funding and programmatic support. Programs like the terminated USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program may be reconsidered for funding to incentivize growers to transition acreage to guayule as this crop requires 2 years of growth before harvest.
Publications
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