There are more than 10 million coconut farmers in the world who, on average, make $500 a year to provide for their families. A research team from Baylor hopes to give these farmers and their families a substantially greater quality of life.
Dr. Walter Bradley, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at Baylor, is leading the team, which seeks to find creative ways to use coconuts.
A former student of Bradley’s, John Pumwa of Texas A&M, was the first person from Papa New Guinea to receive a Ph.D. Pumwa encouraged Bradley to use his talents to find a way to help the coconut farmers of his home country who had been oppressed in the 1990s.
The team’s original goal was to use coconut oil to make biodiesel. The team members were successful in their research, but coconut-sourced biodiesel was not cost-efficient and the team was compelled to find other ways to utilize coconuts in the marketplace.
Researchers discovered that for every gallon of coconut oil that is produced, an average of 76 husks are thrown away. The team wanted to find a use for this significant amount of waste.
The team found that coconut fibers located in the husk have several properties that make them useful for making car parts such as trunk liners and door panels.
Since this discovery, Baylor has patented this product. The company Whole Tree Inc. was founded by two Baylor graduates to market the eco-friendly product.
“Whole Tree is an amazing company to work for because of the tremendous team we have assembled,” Stanton Greer, research and development engineer, said. “We are a small business on the leading edge of the natural composite industry, so every day holds something exciting and different.”
Brownsville senior Ryan Vano, a member of the research team, is joining Whole Tree Inc. when he graduates.
“I believe that the greatest benefit of the research we do is that we are helping people on both ends of the supply chain,” Vano said. “For the consumers and automotive companies, we are creating better performing, greener materials – helping them be good stewards of the planet. For the coconut farmers we are adding value to an existing commodity by developing new uses for parts of the coconut that used to be considered worthless – giving them an opportunity for a better quality of life for them and their children. In the end, everybody wins.”
Bradley’s ultimate hope for global change is that he would be able to see 10 million coconut farmers triple their income.
“In the context of a holistic Christian ministry, we want to minister to their spiritual and material needs,” Bradley said. “They shouldn’t be separated.”
The team is expanding possibilities for coconuts and empowering poor coconut farmers and their families worldwide. They are partnering with fellow Christians who share the team’s heart and purpose to minister to the poor in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papa New Guinea, Brazil, Ghana, India and the Dominican Republic.
Bradley was a professor and chair of the mechanical engineering department at Texas A&M for 24 years before coming to Baylor in 2000. Bradley developed high-performance technology for NASA at Texas A&M but wanted to do something that would help poor people in developing countries.
Bradley thought his research would fit in well at Baylor.
“I didn’t want to do it as a humanitarian project, but as a Christian – my purpose was explicitly Christian,” Bradley said.
Bradley said it is humbling to realize that none of the research would have happened if he had remained in his comfort zone in Aggieland instead of coming to Baylor.
“To let go and come here – we felt like God had something important for us to do, but we had no idea what it was,” Bradley said.
“I was like Abraham in the sense of not knowing what God would have us do, how it would work out, and letting go of all our security blankets in College Station. But since we came to Baylor, it has been some of the best years of our lives.”