The #FarmToCar mission is simple: replace petroleum-based plastics with plant-based materials.https://t.co/ETS8NqtqxL
— Ford Drive Green (@FordDriveGreen) May 10, 2016
Did you know that Henry Ford, the man who founded Ford Motor Company, implemented the assembly line in auto manufacturing, and brought the automobile to the masses, started out on a small farm in Michigan?
It seems like a footnote in history, but it would have far-reaching consequences.
Even as Henry left his bucolic past behind him, he kept a soft-spot for the working class -- particularly farmers. As he rose to wealth and renown in industry, he wanted to make sure that agrarian workers would benefit, too. In the 1920's, 30's, and 40's, he promoted the idea that he could make anything out of vegetable oil that could be made with petroleum oil.
Unfortunately, Henry Ford's grand plans were lost in time. Then in 2000, an environmentally-concerned chemical engineer at Ford Motor Company started pushing to replace petroleum-based seat cushion foam with soy-based foam.
"Literally, we were told over and over it could not be done," said Debbie Mielewski, Senior Technical Leader of Ford Materials Sustainability. "I always say we got thrown out of every conference room in the company. But I believed we had a responsibility to do it."
At the time, nobody remembered that the company's founder had also wanted to use plant byproducts. Mielewski just wanted to reduce Ford's carbon emissions. The company mostly wanted to avoid the spiking price of imported oil. Yet, Henry Ford's dream of bringing new sources of revenue to farmers finally came true. Since 2011, every new Ford vehicle to roll out of a North American factory uses soy foam, and the F-150 is made using plastics reinforced with rice hulls sourced from U.S. farms.
Is agriculture and the auto industry a match made in heaven? Browse our new Ford inventory in Vinita, OK at Green Country Ford Inc, and see!