Landcorp announced today that it will stop using palm kernel to feed their animals by June next year. Why is this important? One reason is that Landcorp – a state-owned company – may be a role model for other farms and may lead the way to better farming.
Palm kernel is a by-product of palm oil production. The use of palm kernel to feed animals, especially dairy cows, has increased in NZ from almost nothing to nearly 2million tonnes since the year 2000. While consumers believe NZ milk products are produced by grass-fed dairy cows, in fact many farmers increasingly use supplements like palm kernel. Farms now have many more dairy cows than they used to and there is often not enough grass or hay. Palm kernel is very nutritious – it supplies high levels of energy, protein and fibre.
However, palm kernel is imported from Malaysia or Indonesia. Since palm oil has become very popular, native rain forests have been destroyed to plant palm trees. The fires have caused air pollution in neighbouring countries like Singapore. The fires also destroy peatland and this is a concern because peat stores carbon dioxide.
The loss of rain forests also destroys the habitat of endangered animals like the orangutan and the Sumatra tiger.
Of course if NZ farmers stopped importing palm kernel, that probably would not stop the increasing use of palm oil in so many products on supermarket shelves, from bread, chocolate, and ice cream to toothpaste, shampoo, and toilet soap. If a product says “vegetable oil” on the label, we don’t know if that means palm oil.
Finally, more about Landcorp. It is owned by the government. The company has 140 farms throughout NZ with a total of 1.6m animals. The aim of Landcorp is “to leave the land and environment in a better state for future generations.”
Vocabulary
• palm kernel expeller (pke) – the fibre that is left after the oil is pressed from the kernel (the seed of the palm)
• Landcorp – short for corporation or company (the final p is not pronounced)
• role model (n) – a good example for others to copy
• by-product (n) – not the main product; sometimes it is a waste product
• grass-fed (adj) – animals which feed on grass alone
• supplements(n) – extra food
• nutritious (adj) – food that is good for the body
• peat (n) – land in swampy areas from moss which decays; it is cut and used as fuel for fires in some countries.
• habitat ((n) – natural environment where animals live
• endangered (adj) – may become extinct