Institute
University of Canterbury
Time & Place
Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:00:00 NZST in ER 263
Abstract
The palm oil production system is founded on intensive agriculture, focused largely in Indonesia. This thesis looked at the environmental sustainability of this system in terms of soil quality, plant nutrition, and product compliance with animal and human health standards. It found that soils and plants were deficient in key nutrients and soils were also accumulating potentially-toxic trace elements. Palm kernel expeller, a palm oil by-product imported into New Zealand as cow feed, breached maximum thresholds for animal health for several trace elements. This thesis has highlighted the unsustainable nature of this system and brings into question New Zealand’s support of this industry.