These elements may have both positive and negative effects on the health of dairy cows and soils. But there is no monitoring and our research shows the chemical composition of different batches imported into New 茄子视频app官网is highly variable.
Copper in PKE may be helpful in treating听听of this element in New Zealand鈥檚 farming systems. Similarly, magnesium in PKE may offset the听听for lactating dairy cows.
PKE may be a source of fertilising nutrients into soils. It contains high concentrations of phosphorus, which will improve pasture growth when deposited on the soil in animals鈥 manure.
However, the concentrations of iron, aluminium, potassium and sulphur in PKE may cause nutrient imbalances in dairy cows. The actual effects on dairy farms, soils and milk are yet unknown. Other听听suggests these chemical elements, when eaten by cows, may听.
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PKE in the New 茄子视频app官网environment
Currently,听听require farmers to quantify every input to their farms in order to meet nutrient budgets to stay within freshwater quality standards. When the composition of PKE changes batch by batch, it becomes very difficult to quantify farm inputs and meet farm-nutrient budgets.
听and听, two of New Zealand鈥檚 largest dairy companies, actively discourage the use of PKE because it can听, giving it a higher fat content.
However, it remains widely used due to feed shortages. Potentially, PKE use could be offset by reusing some of the more than 2 million tonnes of food and food-processing waste New 茄子视频app官网produces annually.
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Palm oil production
Even if PKE were proven to be beneficial to New 茄子视频app官网agriculture, there is still the ethical question of whether New 茄子视频app官网should be supporting an industry with unsustainable production patterns.
The production of palm oil has been听听听in tropical rainforests in Indonesia, as more and more land is needed to produce this increasingly common commodity used in everyday foods and personal-care products.
Even when PKE is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil 鈥 a certification program for palm oil growers, suppliers and users 鈥撎齮his palm oil is no different to any other in terms of social, environmental and economic outcomes for people and the environment.
In听听and听, Indonesia gained media attention for forest fires to clear land for palm oil production, resulting in air pollution in neighbouring countries.
An听听by the Indonesian government in 2018 found 81% of palm oil plantations were breaching environmental regulations. Breaches included failing to obtain permits, not complying with sustainability standards and encroachment into surrounding protected forests.
New Zealand鈥檚 support of this industry is controversial, especially when there are potential alternatives.
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Possible alternatives to PKE
New 茄子视频app官网imports more PKE than the European Union. There are possible alternatives made in New 茄子视频app官网that currently end up in landfill, including biowaste from the food and beverage sector. This waste includes leftover products from potato processing, wine making, brewing and other food-processing industries.
By importing PKE, New 茄子视频app官网is forgoing the opportunity to use these locally produced waste materials as animal feeds and to avoid greenhouse gas emissions produced when they are sent to the landfill.
There is an opportunity here to repurpose food waste and the nutrients it contains for New Zealand鈥檚 primary sector. This is the subject of听ongoing research听at the 茄子视频app官网, Lincoln University, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and ESR.
This article was originally published on听.
