Agroforestry Industry Research Articles

Business Process Reengineering of Sustainable Teak Forest at Agroforestry Industry

Business Process Reengineering of Sustainable Teak Forest at Agroforestry Industry

Applying Data Envelopment Analysis and Grey Model for the Productivity Evaluation of Vietnamese Agroforestry Industry

Agriculture and forestry play important roles in Vietnam, particularly as they contribute to the creation of food, conservation of forest resources, and improvement of soil fertility. Therefore, understanding the performances of relevant enterprises in this field contributes to the sustainable development of this country’s agroforestry industry. This research proposes a hybrid model, which includes a grey model (GM) and a Malmquist productivity index (MPI), to assess the performances of Vietnamese agroforestry enterprises over several time periods. After collecting the data of selected input and output variables for 10 Vietnam agroforestry enterprises in the period of 2011–2014, GM is used to forecast the future values of these input and output variables for the 10 agroforestry enterprises in 2015 and 2016. Following the results of GM, the MPI is used to measure the performance of these enterprises. The MPI scores showed some enterprises will become more efficient, while others will become less efficient. The proposed model gives past–present–future insights in order for decision-makers to sustain agroforestry development in Vietnam. This hybrid approach can be applied to performance analysis of other industries as well.

Decreased radial growth in sugar maple trees tapped for maple syrup

The conversion of sap from sugar maple (Acer saccharum) to syrup is a multi-million dollar agroforestry industry in North America. Sugar maple trees take decades to reach a size that can be tapped; therefore, maintaining vigorous trees is crucial to the industry's sustainability. Our objectives were to identify whether syrup production altered radial growth or cambium miner activity. We extracted increment cores and measured ring widths from trees tapped for syrup production and untapped reference trees. In Pennsylvania and Ontario, radial growth in tapped trees was significantly reduced compared to reference trees. In New York, there was no significant difference in radial growth between tapped and reference trees. All sites showed a significant reduction in radial growth following commencement of tapping, compared to growth rates prior to tapping. This pattern was not identified in reference trees, which indicates that it was not an artifact of age-related growth trends. There was no significant difference between cambium miner activity in tapped and reference trees. We concluded that the reduction in sugar maple radial growth is likely due to reallocation of resources as the tree heals the damage to the stem during tapping.

Climate Change Adaptation for Agro-forestry Industries: Sustainability Challenges in Uji Tea Cultivation

The on-going changes in the climate conditions have been affecting the agriculture industries, where the effects are likely to be region specific. There is a need for different types and levels of adaptation in each region based on its conditions and resources. This study focuses on theUji area of Kyoto, which is one of the oldest and most famous producers of green tea in Japan. Recent changes have been slowly affecting the quality of the tea produced in the region, as well as further decliningofthe tea quantity cultivated in Uji area. In order to sustain the area as a vibrant tea producer, specific and localized adaptation methods need to be developed. The development of terroir(as used in winegrape producing regions) derived bio-climatic indicators linked withtraditional agriculture knowledgein long-standing tea farmer communities, is very important in developingprecision agriculture systemfor adapting to climate change. Indicators such as Heliothermal Index, THSW Index, Cool Night Index, Dryness Index, as well as Soil Respiration Index can be retranslated into indicators for evaluating optimal conditions for growing quality teas. Selection of the most appropriate land, cultivars and cultivation methods for quality tea production can be applied and conducted as these indicators are likely to become a powerful tool for monitoring the impacts of climate change and adapting pro-actively to the environmental transformation, while maintaining and enhancing the values of the teas produced.The development of bio-climatic indicators will not only be useful for Uji area, but also in other tea growing regions in the world.

Plywood Industry by Using Eco-efficiency Approach and LIA- Wood Balance Sheet Program

The general purposes of this study were to improve the efficiency of wood utilization and to create wood’s value added for plywood industry. To achieve the above purposes a strategy for Agro forestry Industry should be develop based on eco-efficiencyprinciples. The details of targets were: (1). to analyze critical factors in plywood industry management regarding to eco-efficiency implementation, (2) to analyze production technology that is used in plywood industry, and (3). to design a developing strategy of integrated plywood industry based on eco-efficiency principles. The result of this study show that the key factors for plywood management’s policy was environmental awareness; material utilization; and international issues. The production technology of all plywood industry in Indonesia is relatively similar. They are using the machineries of the 80’s and have the similar working procedures. The kinds of wood wastes generated from plywood industry were classified into log end, reject log end, green veneer waste, and others. The wood waste was calculated 49.52% released from 100% input log in plywood industry. There are three strategy of integrated plywood industry based on eco-efficiency, namely (1) selecting and managing of environmental impact, showing three kinds of waste which affect the environment (2) Improvement the plywood manufacturing technology, showing the newinnovation technology or process control management and (3) Development of new product from wood waste. Wood waste can be used to produce block board, laminated board, handicraft, and others.

Assessment of Western Australian sandalwood seeds for seed oil production

Summary The Western Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum R.Br.) industry is transforming into an agro-forestry industry in which the seeds are being considered as a valuable secondary income—generating product. Oil extracted from the seeds has a potential use in the cosmetic industry. This study aimed to identify the quality parameters for seeds to obtain oil of better and consistent quality, and the effect of seed source, seed size and storage time. Different seed samples varied in oil content, moisture content and fatty acid profile. Larger seeds from plantation trees in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia are the most suitable source of seed oil thus far evaluated. The seed grading system currently used by the sandalwood industry was suitable for selecting seeds from plantations (but not from natural stands in arid regions—‘wild wood’) for seed oil production. Basic parameters for the selection of seeds for oil extraction were identified.

Utilization of residues from agro-forest industries in the production of high value bacterial cellulose

Bacterial cellulose (BC), a very peculiar form of cellulose, is gaining considerable importance due to its unique properties. In this study, several residues, from agro-forestry industries, namely grape skins aqueous extract, cheese whey, crude glycerol and sulfite pulping liquor were evaluated as economic carbon and nutrient sources for the production of BC. The most relevant BC amounts attained with the residues from the wine and pulp industries were 0.6 and 0.3g/L, respectively, followed by biodiesel crude residue and cheese whey with productions of about, 0.1g/L after 96h of incubation. Preliminary results on the addition of other nutrient sources (yeast extract, nitrogen and phosphate) to the residues-based culture media indicated that, in general, these BC productions could be increased by ∼200% and ∼100% for the crude glycerol and grape skins, respectively, after the addition organic or inorganic nitrogen.

Carob agroforestry industry: an assessment of its potential for the low - medium rainfall Murray Valley region

This paper reports the key findings of a study examining the potential viability of a carob agroforestry industry in the low rainfall Murray Valley region. The carob fruit, typically produced on female and hermaphrodite trees older than 6 years, is valued for a range of products derived from the seed and pod. From the seeds, the endosperm is extracted for a galactomannan, which forms an edible gum (termed ‘carob bean gum’ or ‘locust bean gum’) and has become a valuable natural food additive. Carob powder, made by grinding the roasted pod, is used for the human food industry (with cocoa products and syrups). Ripe pods also have potential as a high energy stockfeed. The gum is used extensively in Australia as a thickening or binding agent, particularly for canned pet food products, with current imports valued at A$10 million/year. The current Australian demand for ‘pet food’ and ‘technical’ grade gum is estimated at 1200 t/year, with a further 200 t/year of the higher quality ‘food’ grade gum. Assuming a modern plant was built in Australia, the current Australian demand for carob gum could be met with about 2250 t of carob seed (seed value at $1600/t). This equates to 5405 ha of trees (at 104 trees/ha) with medium rainfall and low technology management (yielding 40 kg pods/tree); or 1080 ha of trees (at 208 trees/ha) with supplementary irrigation and fertilising (yielding 100 kg pods/tree). As such, carob could be a commercial tree crop for landholders in the Murray Valley region. This could be through the sale of seeds and pods, or as a supplement to livestock feeding. Economic analyses were undertaken to assess the relative viability of commercial returns when trees had access to adequate water through medium rainfall or irrigation, and growers had access to both the carob gum and powder markets. Commercial opportunities for carob growers within Australia vary considerably depending on establishment and maintenance costs, yields and access to markets.