On RFD-TV: Patricio Grassini

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03/31/2021 Added

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New research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows that production of palm oil can be dramatically increased without converting additional land into agricultural production. Patricio Grassini, associate professor of agronomy and horticulture, speaks live on RFD-TV, March 30, 2021.

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[00:00:00.320]Well, new research shows the production
[00:00:01.960]of Palm oil can be greatly increased without converting
[00:00:05.130]additional land into agricultural production.
[00:00:08.360]Patricio Grassini,
[00:00:09.790]with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln joins us now
[00:00:12.210]with the latest insight on that effort.
[00:00:14.140]And Patricio thank you very much for your time this morning.
[00:00:17.050]Now, could you provide us a bit
[00:00:18.420]of background on palm oil
[00:00:19.910]and why it's so important?
[00:00:22.890]Good morning, Janet.
[00:00:23.723]I will be happy to give you some background.
[00:00:26.000]Palm oil is a perennial crop grown
[00:00:29.270]in the tropical environment
[00:00:31.330]and is harvested every 10 to 15 days.
[00:00:35.210]And the fruits are sent
[00:00:36.240]to a mill where the oil is extracted
[00:00:38.670]and this oil is used to produce a wide array of products
[00:00:42.750]including a cosmetics by diesel and fuel.
[00:00:46.000]And the demand for palm oil is very high
[00:00:48.040]and it is expected to increase in the future.
[00:00:51.360]Now, your research finds that Palm oil production
[00:00:53.520]on existing ag land could be greatly increased.
[00:00:57.160]What are the implications of this?
[00:01:00.191]Well, the implications are huge, giant
[00:01:02.423]because Indonesia produces about two thirds
[00:01:05.160]of the global palm oil production.
[00:01:08.150]And in the case of Indonesia, 50% of the area planted
[00:01:11.320]with oil palm is managed by small holder farmers
[00:01:15.110]which typically plant oil palm in only a few acres of land.
[00:01:20.370]And along those lines, our study shows that a productivity
[00:01:23.750]of existing plantation areas can be increased by 68%.
[00:01:28.590]And this can have two major implications for Indonesians.
[00:01:31.490]The first one is that the country can greatly improve
[00:01:34.480]the wellbeing of millions of small holders
[00:01:37.150]across the archipelago.
[00:01:38.590]And the second implication is that we can help Indonesia
[00:01:41.229]to keep a highly biodiversity ecosystem
[00:01:45.510]such as rainforest and peatlands
[00:01:48.109]from being converted for all bunk cultivation.
[00:01:51.540]So what are the next steps to increasing production
[00:01:54.510]on the existing and ground that's available?
[00:01:57.878]Well, we are very excited about the second phase
[00:02:01.180]because we are now moving on
[00:02:02.690]in putting to a solutions agenda
[00:02:05.120]that can help farmers to raise the productivity
[00:02:07.620]of their existing plantations.
[00:02:09.670]Our initial results shows that there are many things
[00:02:12.560]that the farmers can do to improve their reels
[00:02:15.280]including their harvest methods by pruning,
[00:02:18.240]use of vary planting material
[00:02:19.620]and especially use of better nutrition.
[00:02:23.877]But perhaps Janet, what really excites me about this project
[00:02:27.860]is that we are working side-by-side
[00:02:30.110]with Indonesian researchers, policy makers in NGO
[00:02:33.980]in trying to put together solutions
[00:02:36.480]that can help Indonesia as well
[00:02:37.970]as the other countries to reconcile their economic
[00:02:41.422]and environmental goals.
[00:02:43.720]And along those lines, we are seeing now
[00:02:46.700]that our project is helping to raise the farmers years
[00:02:50.110]and we expect more to come.
[00:02:51.900]All right, well thank you very much
[00:02:53.030]for your insight this morning professor, we appreciate it.
[00:02:55.560]UNL associate professor of agronomy
[00:02:57.630]and horticulture Patricio Grassini
[00:02:59.960]joining us of course from the Husker state this morning.

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On RFD-TV: Patricio Grassini

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