Researchers Seek Environmentally Friendlier Palm Oil, an Industrial Info Market Brief

While palm oil is controversial and seen as a contributor to the destruction of tropical forest, German-Indonesian collaborative researchers have started a large-scale experiment in Jambi Province, Sumatra, that studies the impact on soil-related functions and nutrients as well as some biodiversity measures. After two years of implementation, environmentally friendlier palm oil was produced with less fertilizer and without herbicide, but still maintaining the same yield. Preliminary results are encouraging, but continuous monitoring for four more years is needed to check whether the positive trend will continue.