Potentials for win-win alliances among animal agriculture and forest products industries: application of the principles of industrial ecology and sustainable development.
Commercial forests in many parts of the world are deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrient-deficient forests often exist in close proximity to large animal feeding operations, meat processing and other food, textile, or other biomass-processing plants, and municipal waste treatment facilities. Many of these facilities produce large surpluses of nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter as gaseous ammonia, urea, uric acid, phosphorus compounds, bacterial sludges, and partially treated municipal wastewaters. These co-existing and substantial nutrient deficiencies and surpluses offer ready-made opportunities for discovery, demonstration, and commercial development of science-based, technology-facilitated, environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable "win-win alliances" among these major industries based on the principles of industrial ecology and sustainable development. The major challenge is to discover practical means to capture the surplus nutrients and put them to work in forest stands from which value-added products can be produced and sold at a profit.
Cowling
Ellis B
EB
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA. ellis_cowling@ncsu.edu
Furiness
Cari S
CS
D000383:Agriculture; D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D018533:Biomass; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D026361:Reactive Nitrogen Species; D014197:Trees; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods; D014881:Water Supply
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D026361:Reactive Nitrogen Species; D010758:Phosphorus; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen