Go, Go, Jojoba

Growers bet on a desert bean

"We know it has a great future," says Desert Agriculturalist Kennith Foster of the University of Arizona. "We just aren't sure exactly what it is."

The object of Foster's uncertainty is a brown, peanut-size bean called the jojoba (pronounced ho-ho-bah). Nearly a decade ago, researchers found that oil extracted from the beanlike seeds of the jojoba bush, which grows wild in the desert of the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico, could substitute for dwindling supplies of sperm whale oil.

The oil of the endangered sperm whale was used for years in everything from facial cream to transmission fluid. In 1973 interstate sale of the oil was banned in the U.S., but substitutes, including certain fish and vegetable oils, have also been hard to come by.

A group of enterprising ranchers and businessmen is now trying to cash in on the demand for a replacement by cultivating the lowly jojoba plant. Roughly 12,000 acres have so far been turned to jojoba cultivation in Arizona, along with up to 10,000 more in California. The fledgling Jojoba Growers Association of Arizona estimates that potential cultivation could easily reach hundreds of thousands of acres.

The spindly jojoba thrives on the arid conditions of the Southwest. Indians of the region, including the Pima and Papago tribes, once used the bean's oily wax as a hair conditioner to protect against the drying effects of sun and wind.

Since it takes between four and six years for newly planted jojoba to bear seeds in large quantities, no commercially cultivated jojoba oil has yet reached the market. But businessmen are already harvesting and processing the wild bean, and demand is strong. Chief buyers are cosmetics manufacturers, including Max Factor, Estee Lauder and Shiseido, a large Japanese firm. They are using jojoba oil as an ingredient in premium shampoos, moisturizers, sunscreens and conditioners.

With cosmetics demand now far outstripping supply, the price of jojoba oil is soaring. In Mesa, Ariz., Processor Tom Janca sells 55-gal. barrels of jojoba oil for $6,900, almost triple last year's price of $2,500 per bbl. Says he: "We're trying to talk the big companies out of ordering too much. We just don't have enough seeds."

Most growers believe jojoba's biggest market will be in industrial applications. Like sperm oil, the bean oil does not break down under high pressures and temperatures, so it is suited for demanding lubrication applications. Pennzoil and Tenneco are among the companies underwriting research on the use of jojoba as a machine lubricant. If that demand picks up, the new business could quickly take root.

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