Volumes of statistical data concerning forest use vs.
population growth, and yield of biomass or fiber per unit of area for various
crops is available. Financial and engineering data generally predicts expected
board plant production. Data is important, however, it is of little value unless
sound business and engineering practices are employed to collect materials,
develop viable products and create new markets that will achieve sustained
Ag-board plant profitability.
The future success of the Ag-board industry requires:
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing (of viable product)
Environmental concerns and the actual or perceived scarcity
of wood, has resulted in extensive research to use annual plants as alternatives
to wood for building materials. This interest is further evidenced by the
formation of straw-to-panelboard support businesses that provide consulting
services and equipment development specifically intended for Ag-board
production. Government and environmental programs promote such work. Numerous
technical papers about agricultural fibers have been presented at wood products
industry or alternative building material events. Several plants have been
built, but very few have been successful.
The economics of halting all field burning brings forth
complex issues of enjoying clean air while maintaining a reliable supply of
inexpensive food and fiber. Regulatory solutions are in need of economic
solutions before regulation and the marketplace can achieve a reasonable balance
of clean air and sustainable agriculture. Sustained profitable production is the elusive objective.
The technology to manufacture reliable high quality
building materials from alternative crops has significantly advanced. However,
current collection, transportation, storage and adhesive costs tend to boost the
comparative price of manufacturing products from agricultural residues above the
commodity threshold. Therefore, directly challenging the large-scale production
and price sensitive wood product commodity markets offers little room for
profit. Developing viable specialty
products for niche markets is a market entry strategy that can bring initial
profit and success to agricultural derived building materials while establishing
future market acceptance.
Specialty furniture, lightweight store fixtures and wall
coverings for Interior Design are examples of niche markets that this paper uses
as examples to advance the case for the use of agricultural materials on their
own merits. Government and
Environmental product incentives are encouraging but they cannot serve as the
long-term solution.
Background of Meadowood Industries
The author's background in the Ag-board industry comes from
previous practical experience in agriculture, and as, Vice President of
Meadowood Industries, Inc. of Albany, Oregon (Meadowood). The company has
provided alternative or "green" building materials from sustainable
agriculture for the past 25 years. Meadowood develops, manufactures and markets
unique decorative and structural boards, panels, and molded products, primarily
from Oregon ryegrass in a small-scale production facility. The company currently
operates on a demand basis to supply products and research for customers while
developing expansion plans.
The author has served as a consultant to other Ag-board
plant projects, to financial institutions reviewing Ag-board business plans, and
visited China in the spring of 2000 to evaluate the resources and opportunities
for Ag-board production.
Meadowood was founded in 1977 to make Ag-board based on
some original straw particleboard research completed in the early 1970's at
Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR (Barbour and Groner). Meadowood now
uses longer pieces of plant stems, and binder modifications to achieve certain
strength to weight benefits that are superior to many comparable wood products.
The company has continued to evolve better methods of meeting production and
marketing challenges, primarily with private resources. Research and production
work for the company and for clients has resulted in panel products and
laminates of various densities from a wide range of materials. Materials include
agricultural fibers such as buckwheat hulls, rice stalks and hulls, various
types of cereal grain stalks, corn stover, kenaf, bagasse, other forage and
grasses, and urban wastes including chopped money. Meadowood's primary focus has
been Oregon ryegrass straw that remains after the grass seed harvest.
The company's board and molded products have been sold
through home centers, lumberyards and specialty distributors on a direct basis.
A line of Visual Merchandising fixtures have been developed and sold
direct or through trade representatives in New York and San Francisco. The
display fixtures and props have been also sold through the floral trade.
Decorator panels and wall treatments are sold to Architectural and
Interior Design Professionals. Novelty
items such as plaques and clocks are sold directly and through distribution
channels. Customers generally
recognize the Meadowood™ branding and understand the differentiation of
Ag-board products from wood. They appreciate the unique benefits of strength to
weight, acoustic, and appearance value. We
have proven that we know how to make quality board and have moved enough
merchandise in diverse markets to know that sufficient specialty markets are
available to justify expanding the business into a much larger production
facility.
As a part of the due diligence for the planned expansion
Meadowood is conducting a comprehensive feasibility study. The study includes an
evaluation of the agricultural materials based industry, and its relationship to
the wood based Particleboard/Composite board industry. The studies indicate that
the nature of the composite board products and equipment industry is such that
our expansion must be in the minimum cost range of $25 to $35 million for
design, land acquisition, refurbished equipment, construction, startup and
market expansion.
The current economies of scale in the North American and
European wood products industry dictate high production plants with a narrow
product mix costing from $100 million to as much as $400 million.
These economies of scale and certain inherent higher costs of processing
agricultural materials limit Meadowood's consideration of entering into direct
competition with the consolidated and entrenched wood-based commodity board
businesses. Therefore, a successful Meadowood business model must be
directed toward lower volume specialty or niche markets until the viability of
commodity panelboards is established. The niche model can take advantage of the
lower capital cost of quality and proven refurbished equipment.
The business plan must include the very substantial cost of pioneering
standards and markets in these specialty areas with capital commitments that are
proportionately larger than for a similar wood products plant supplying
established commodity products to long established markets.
We foresee that market pioneering will add at least 35% to
the financing package, over and above the facility and startup costs for
Meadowood. An addition of 100 % for marketing would be preferred but cannot be
supported by most business plan models. This means that an estimated $7 to $12
million of additional long term capital or $4 to $6 million in grant funding
will be required as a commitment for market pioneering over a period of 2 to 3
years to assure the development of a successful niche and expanded Ag-board
business.
Niche Markets and Perceptions
An associate of the author has a rather simple motto that
describes niche markets. "The
farther a product is from reality, the more you can charge for it."
As an example of niche products, Meadowood developed a line of
"designer hay bales" as display fixtures for the Urban Cowboy era.
Straw sells for $45 a ton or about $2.00 per bale while a set of artificial hay
bales sells for $250.00. The set of
bales are designed to ship by UPS, as are all of the Meadowood display risers
and fixtures. The strength to
weight of MeadowBoardTM facilitates more display risers per shipping
set than items made from wood products of comparable strength and cost.
Niche markets help to overcome inherent marketing problems
of straw resulting from a negative perception of residue or "least
worth". No connotation in the
English language is favorable to straw. Folklore, Mythology, and Fairy Tales
bring youngsters these attitudes at an early age with such stories as the little
pig's house of straw, and the straw man in the Wizard of OZ.
Flammability is a historical concern of straw.
Most board products from straw actually have low flammability.
Meadowood products are Class C or III, which means that they will not
support combustion without an external flame.
The perception must be overcome with marketing.
As an example of straw perception, during an early sales
trip the author had captured the enthusiasm of a prospective building products
retailer for our lightweight, but strong and visually attractive product.
The dealer was ready to place an order until he asked the name of the
product, and the author responded "strawboard".
The enthusiasm drained from his face, and he suggested the author try the
competitor down the street, who turned out to be a low-end panel and seconds
lumberyard. Renaming the company to Meadowood Industries and the standard
product to MeadowBoardTM was a very helpful early step to overcome
the straw objections.
Niche markets offer a convenient method of introducing
Ag-board products as decorative items or as components of finished goods. The
approach demonstrates the appearance or utility value to future customers when
they view, use, or purchase the finished item. The method can serve as a
secondary or cooperative marketing tool. The
strength-to-weight, appearance value, and low emissions of various types of Ag
board offers advantages over wood products in some applications.
Applications that can exploit these benefits require greater promotional
investment and closer customer contact to extract the premium price benefits of
specialty niche markets.
Marketing and the Ag-board Industry
Through the bootstrap school of hard knocks and the ongoing
due diligence of the Ag-board industry in North America, the author finds that
certain patterns have emerged that parallel the Meadowood experience.
It has become apparent that the future success of an emerging Ag-board
industry must rely not only on technology and economics, but must do more market
pioneering than the wood products industry to gain entry into their market.
A common difficulty with all of the current agricultural
materials based board plants in North America is a shortage of funds to cover
the higher cost of product certification and market pioneering necessary to
educate prospective consumers about the benefits of the unique new products.
Using multiple new technologies has generally resulted in extended and costly
startup cycles without the benefit of a deep pocket parent such as in large
companies of the wood products industry. Plant
construction cost overruns have also been a factor in reducing the capital
available for marketing when the plants start production.
The struggle to survive has resulted in the reckless introduction of low
quality "starter board" into intended finished product markets.
The starter board introduction has established a low quality expectation
for Ag-board, which severely damages the finished market for others in the
industry. First impressions are hard to change. These shortfalls in marketing
funding have contributed to hundreds of million of dollars in losses for
investors in the Ag-board industry.
Part of the reason for the lack of marketing capital is the
difficulty of financing this non-collateral expense. Numerous governmental programs are intended to assist with
the manufacturing of products from agricultural materials, particularly crop
residue. However, these programs
are focused on the same areas as conventional financing. They require secured
collateral assets and personal guarantees, which do not include funds for
marketing.
Completion or "takeout" financing is also
generally based on plant value after completion of construction and equipment
installation without consideration for market entry capitalization.
Ag-board plants are purpose-built facilities, with the actual equipment
value possibly as low as 30% of the plant construction cost. This may result in
an actual salvage value that is little more than the cost of demolition and
equipment removal. The irony is
that without sufficient soft or unsecured capital for production startup, and
marketing being acquired at the project beginning, the chance then for repayment
or recovery of the loans against the "hard" collateral assets becomes
much lower or moot.
Ag-board Industry Support
Government agency directives have created a demand for
materials such as Ag-board at a time when the majority of Ag-board plants have
failed or are troubled. The
environmental drive for forest preservation and sustainable agriculture has led
to many local, state, and federal mandates that new construction use a
percentage of building and decorative materials that are defined as bio-based,
certified non-wood, refuse derived, sustainable or other similar description.
The Clinton executive order 13134 of April 2000 for bio-based products
and bio-energy is an example of these mandates, as are San Francisco, New York
and other city ordinances requiring use of bio-based materials.
These programs have high "feel good" value but have not had
much positive impact on the price that the consumer is willing to pay without
further education (which is an additional cost).
It has been demonstrated over and over that brokers,
distributors, manufacturers representatives, and dealers cannot be relied upon
to educate the customer. The manufacturer must educate the consumer so they will
know to ask for the products. Large
building supply chain stores such as Home Depot are apparent supporters of
sustainable, "green", and certified building products. Yet when the
author asks, in the stores, for agricultural derived building materials, few
sales people have knowledge of these types of products and little inventory is
on the shelves. The shelves are
empty in part because supply has not been reliable due to Ag-board plant
production startup or closure problems. Unless
the manufacturers of Ag-board incur the costs of educating the customer, the
sales will not be made in quantities sufficient to survive.
Numerous environmental organizations contact our company
with a desire to list our product in their "green" directories.
These requests are most intriguing when one considers the number of
people interested in promoting "green" ag-products, yet so few of
these people understanding why not many products are available.
The desire for "green" products, and the desire for an end of
open field burning is the regulatory engine that was expected to create an
Ag-board industry. Very little has
been done by "green" organizations to understand and determine how or
who will pay the product certification and market entry price to bring these new
products to full market acceptance. This competitive, low cost, and high quality
market is dominated by the large-scale, successful and entrenched wood products
industry. When members of these
"green" organizations are addressed about participating in market
entry financing for Ag-board plants, (backing their convictions with their
pocket book), the general retort is that financing of "industry" is
not the job of NGOs.
The current low Ag-board business survival record, while
attempting to pioneer new markets, indicates a need for greater understanding
and cooperation by environmentalists, in order for this industry to grow and
benefit the environment.
Current Alternate Fibers Plants And Status
The following tables are used with permission, but slightly
updated from a presentation by Donald Lengel, PE, entitled Ag-Fiber "Dot
Gone" - A Litany of Failure presented at the 35th
International Particleboard/Composite Material Symposium at Washington State
Univ. Pullman, WA, April 2001.
Table 1. Status of Panelboard Plants in the Alternate
Fibers Industry.
A Roll Call of Failure
AG RESIDUE BOARD PLANTS:
Plants
Location
Approx. Investment US
Status April 2001
Stramit
type
Montana
$ 2,000,000
Not completed
Vacherie
Louisiana
$20,000,000
Closed in 1970's
CenKan
Corp.
Kansas
$ 10,000,000
Acquired by
Prairie Forest Products
(Resold to new owners)
Natuall
Fiberboard
Kansas
$ 1,500,000
Sold
to Prairie Forest Products
Agriboard
Industries
Texas
$ 13,000,000
Restart - Financial Reorg.
(Stramit type)
AgraFibre
Alberta, Can $ 30,000,000
Bankrupt-Sold
$ 0.07 on the $
Converting to Wood
Compak
/ WestGrain
Alberta, Can $ 16,000,000
Closed
- Financial Reorg.
Phenix
Biocomposites
Minnesota
$ 62,000,000
Restart -
Financial Reorg.
(including R&D)
Isobord
International
Manitoba, Can $100,000,000
Restart
- Financial Reorg.
Losses
$ 50,000,000 +
Purchased by Dow
RECYCLED URBAN WOOD PLANTS
Plants
Location
Approx. Investment US
Status April 2001
CanFibre
California
$120,000,000 Closed
- for Sale
CanFibre
New York
$120,000,000 In Start up - for Sale
A
Tentative List of Survivors
Primeboard
North Dakota
Wheat straw
Fibertech
California
Rice straw
Acadia
Louisiana
Bagasse
Pacific
Northwest Fibers
Idaho
Bluegrass straw
Prairie Forest
Products
Kansas
Wheat straw
DuraGreen
Hawaii
Bagasse
Author Lengel
states: "In some cases the plants have been refinanced a couple of
times, or have been taken over by new owners anxious to spend money. A couple of notes of caution on this last point: fire sale
plant prices do not lower production costs much; struggling plants have trouble
maintaining quality. Such
difficulties can further adversely affect the entire industry."
Science and Technology of Ag-Board
The science and technology of making quality board, panels
and molded products from agricultural materials, primarily straw and bagasse, is
not a mystery to those skilled in the art of board manufacturing. Supplying
quality raw material is not a mystery to commercial hay, straw, and livestock
operators. Comprehensive due
diligence must include those "skilled in the art".
Major composite wood board manufacturers have well equipped
laboratories that have experimented privately and publicly with agricultural
derived raw materials. A few are
using a small percentage of straw in their particleboard or MDF products.
Other wood products companies contract with universities or technical
institutes for research. All of the major manufacturers of composite board equipment
have done test work with Ag-fibers. Each
major binder or adhesive manufacturer has completed work in their own
laboratories with various agricultural materials. Papers presented over the course of 35 years at the annual
International Particleboard/Composite Materials Symposium at Washington State
University (WSU), in Pullman Washington, reference many programs aimed at
non-wood utilization. For example,
work was done in Germany with Isocyanate on straw as far back as 1947 (Eckert
and Herr). Urea and Phenol resins
have been used on bagasse since the 1960's at Tablopan in Venezuela as a dry
process. Celotex has made wet process fiberboard from Louisiana bagasse since
1921. The Stramit process originated during 1933 in Sweden. Masonite explored
steam explosion processes in 1926. Extensive
research work was conducted on agricultural materials in North America and
Europe in the 1970's when open field burning first became an environmental focus
issue. Manufacturing Ag-board is not a new process but it does have room for
substantial improvement to become viable. Recognizing the material as a fibrous
stem, to make fibers rather than particles will be a positive step in the right
direction.
Some of those preparing Ag-board business plans would do
well to learn from experienced commercial hay and straw operators in the
livestock industry who understand what determines the cost and market price of
collection, transportation and storage. Chip
prices for the wood products industry are influenced by the demand for wood
composite products, the paper industry and bioenergy value, but are tempered by
the pressures of environmental regulation.
The large wood product manufacturers hedge the market with processor
owned forest resources. Straw, on the other hand, is normally an annually harvested
resource that is heavily influenced by local seasonal environmental conditions
like most agricultural commodities. Weather
generally dictates a relatively short time window for collection of straw after
crop harvest. In some areas, during
some years, the "weather window" may be as short as 10 days.
Weather requires that a form of covered storage be used to maintain
optimum raw material quality. These
differences bring a greater level of uncertainty to the supply and cost of straw
as compared to wood. Such concerns also dictate greater care in cost modeling
for new Ag-board plants to compensate for storage cost and yield losses from
environmental factors and vermin depredation.
Future processes may also become competing users of agricultural
materials for cellulosic ethanol, or fractionated higher value fibers and other
chemicals.
Ag-board plant promoters bemoan that their projects would
work if they "could just lower the cost of collection, transportation, and
payment to the grower". Considerable
funds have been expended by industry and government agencies for studies and
demonstration equipment to lower these costs.
Many of these transportation and densification studies have been
conducted as though the requirements for Bio-products and Bio-energy are unique
or different from existing hay, straw, and feed milling industry requirements.
Some act as though the drive to reduce cost and improve efficiency are
new to agriculture and have not influenced the innovations in mechanical
processes since the McCormick binder. Moving
hay and straw hundreds of miles has been common in California since the late
1940's. High protein alfalfa hay of
intermountain California, Nevada, and Oregon requires transport for the dairy,
feed mill and horse hay markets of Petaluma, the Central Valley and Chino.
Three-wire hand tie, then automatic tie twine bales were first designed
for long distance transport in the early 1950's.
Cost driven advancements for the transport hay market have transitioned
through bale accumulators, automatic bale wagons, hay squeezes and the newer
large bale sizes to speed truck loading and increase load density.
Bale compressors are now used for the hay and straw export market.
The transport hay market is larger and more developed than the Ag-board
industry is likely to become. Focusing
on new purpose-built collection and transport equipment to reduce cost may be
less effective than focusing greater emphasis on securing quality raw material
for use to produce and market quality niche products.
Wood composite board equipment is the general basis for
Ag-board plants from the raw material preparation system forward. New equipment
with performance guarantees may be the most desirable but may not be the most
cost effective or have the versatility for a niche Ag-board facility. Composite
wood product plant equipment that has been proven in use, but that became
surplus because of economy of scale for wood, is available at relatively low
cost. Such used equipment can be renovated and brought into production at costs
that are often a small percentage of new. Arguments can be made for single
opening, multi-opening, or continuous presses. A multi-opening press offers wide
versatility for niche market Ag-board production.
Product and Market Testing
Another method to assist market pioneering of Ag-board,
that has generally been overlooked, is to use an existing wood product plant to
prove full-scale process and product viability before construction or conversion
of a new plant. This due diligence method will provide a quantity of quality
products to use in actual market testing, and initial sales, which will give
factual feedback for business plan assumptions. The pilot production could
provide initial sales. Many view this approach as too expensive, that is, until
they become yet another new plant closure statistic before full startup. Then,
the worth of such valuation testing becomes apparent. The president of an
established wood products company recently offered to do full-scale
demonstration testing with straw, for the promoter of a future Ag-board plant.
The promoter refused this prudent offer.
The author is currently consulting with a group that is
planning to refurbish an idle wood product MDF plant and return it to
operational profitability. The plan
includes part time use of the plant as a full-scale pilot facility by a
nonprofit institute for development, demonstration and initial marketing testing
of feed stocks from agricultural crops, waste wood and other refuse materials.
Asian Interests
The interest and growing pains in the Ag-board industry are
not limited to North America and Europe. The
author had the privilege of being invited by a conglomerate enterprise in
Northeastern China to visit and to explore the possibilities of producing board
and other building materials from rice straw and other regional annual crops.
The trip during May of 2000 included investigations of raw material
resources, manufacturing plant sites, construction methods, building materials
markets, and tours of the region. The
author also visited Southern China to study the building materials markets,
construction practices and furniture trades that are unique to the southern
areas. There is strong potential
for viable Ag-board production in China.
Improving standards of living and heightened concerns about
air pollution in China are resulting in a shift in agricultural regions from the
traditional use of rice straw to coal and gas for home fuel.
This shift and other factors are beginning to create a surplus of straw.
Available wood resources in China are diminishing.
Flood erosion control regulations and immature tree farms are limiting
timber harvest while demand for building materials is increasing.
At the same time, certain governmental policies in China are changing to
encourage the use of wood alternatives and toward "light wall"
construction rather than the traditional brick, stone and concrete.
Straw delivered to a composite board plant as a raw
material costs less in China than forest derived materials. The relative difference between the costs of these raw
materials appears to be widening at a greater rate in China, than in North
America and Europe. The need for
viable Ag-board plants is increasing due to the growing availability of straw
resources, compounded with an expending demand for both construction and
industrial building materials.
Pressure in China for new Ag-board facilities results from:
·
The current drought in the region
·
The new environmental polices that have reduced timber harvest
·
The shift from traditional mud or brick to light wall construction
·
The increasing need for building materials to improve living
standards
·
The growing demand for building materials for home improvement,
due to higher incomes
·
The need for air pollution control
·
Government incentive programs for ag-based building materials
Ag-board related industries have a lengthy history in
China, India and other parts of Asia. However,
the indigenous straw type board industry suffers from a reputation of low
product quality to supply very low priced markets. Such negative market
perceptions must be factored into new business plans as a marketing cost to
raise product standards and image. Otherwise, new plants will suffer similar
startup struggles and failure cycles as those in North America.
Right Sizing Plants
Developing optimum sized first plants in China and other
emerging economies requires consideration of many factors that are much
different than for the North American and European markets.
Assuring the success of the first plant is a primary concern for future
business and the success of the industry. The
chances of success are greatly increased with careful evaluation and planning
prior to entering into agreements, building a facility, and pioneering new
markets.
The major builders of new board plant equipment are
concentrated in Europe and North America. These equipment suppliers have
developed a very strong inclination that bigger is better and more efficient.
This has resulted in some costly failures, damaged reputations, and
international legal battles that have been less than beneficial to the emerging
Asian Ag-board industry. Service and support are often a disputed cost/values.
Transportation infrastructure for delivery of raw materials is much different in
heavily populated agricultural regions of the developing world, with narrow
congested roads and bundles rather than bales as the means of material
collection and delivery. Government
policy to create employment or improve local access to resources also influences
plant size. Infrastructure of local areas must be considered as a function of
working radius for optimal plant size to temper the inclination to "go
big".
Larger plants are most efficient when operating around the
clock. However, they may not be profitable when local raw material cannot be
efficiently supplied for more than one or two shifts due to constraints of
transport infrastructure. Starting and stopping large press lines and boilers
also increases maintenance due to the "cold iron" stress of frequent
heating and cooling cycles.
Packaged panelboard plants have some potential in the
industry, however they must be robust enough to make reliable quality products
on a consistent basis. Some new
small packaged plants, currently being sold, have found themselves on the used
market so quickly that they have not been able to establish a reputation of
quality product and durable operation. Service
for these plants have been sporadic. At
least one group, the author is aware of, is developing a more robust packaged
system intended for setup in regions with limited infrastructure.
Multiple Plants
Some equipment vendors, binder suppliers, and new plant
promoters in the Ag-board industry are so focused on building multiple plants
that very few have concentrated on providing quality products and building a
market that can insure the survival of the first plant.
Several prospective plant builders have proclaimed to the author "we
can make millions together" by licensing the Meadowood technology and
building multiple plants. When the
author inquires as to how much these promoters are willing to invest in product
marketing to assure survival of the first plant, the usual answer is a confused
gaze.
Finding the cost balance for plant design, engineering,
service, and financing to spread over multiple facilities is important from the
builder's standpoint. However,
pioneering a successful market for the first plant is a key to the success of
multiple plants for a stable Ag-board industry.
Seeds of Success
Primeboard of North Dakota is the longest operating of the
recent full production dry process Ag-board plants in North America.
They started early with strong financing, and had a captive market for a
good portion of the production to help weather the tribulations of startup.
The president of Primeboard recounted to the author that market
development remains as a key factor in their continued success.
They emphasize that distribution of "starter board" only
outside of future finished product market channels is crucial to establishing a
quality reputation. Quality
products and strong marketing will be necessary to establish an Ag-board
industry as a viable supplier to the construction, industrial, and
do-it-yourself (DYI) consumer market.
Isocyanate and related polyurethane resin derivatives are
an expensive but effective binder for agricultural materials. The polyurethane
resin industry is so large that the potential market share of an agricultural
materials binder is relatively very small even if this were the only type of
binder used. Therefore, forces outside of the composite board industry will
generally drive the binder price. Several binder suppliers have previously made
strong commitments to the industry but later withdrew for various economic
reasons. Interest is now renewing by a few suppliers.
A subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company has acquired the
restructured Isobord International plant in Manitoba with the stated intention
of using it as a platform for entering the composite panel market.
The Dow entry may signal a significant step in recognition of potential
resin use in the Ag-board industry. An established Ag-board industry will
encourage competitive suppliers.
Conclusion
The owners of Meadowood Industries, Inc. have commitment to
development, production and marketing of high value structural and decorative
products from ryegrass and other crops. Others have similar objectives to
increase agricultural sustainability with new viable products and benefits to
the environment. Experience has demonstrated a critical need for viable
agricultural biobased products that are introduced and sold with proper and
extensive marketing. Securing long-term capital commitments for product
certification and marketing has been an extremely difficult factor in completing
viable business plans for expansion. Marketing funding is critical for a high
likelihood of success with any Ag-board or biobased plant.
Many Ag-board production and economic problems are
opportunities waiting to be resolved by engineers. However, engineers must keep
marketing as part of the solution. Recent
history has proven several times, that a successful Ag-board industry will
require solid due diligence during initial planning, sound engineering
practices, quality products, and strong well-funded marketing programs to assure
long-term reliable use of agricultural resources. Environmental agencies and
NGOs must participate in infrastructure and marketing to become part of the
solution.
Building a successful Ag-board industry demands the growing
of credibility with viable products, consistent quality and effective marketing
strategies.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Don Lengel, PE, and recommends his recent
Ag-fibers papers including, Ag-Fiber Dot Gone: A Litany of Failure. PanelWorld
Magazine July 2001: 8-9, 34-38. Montgomery, AL. (dlengel@uswest.net).
PanelWorld, July 2001 also reports on the 35th International
Particleboard/Composite Material Symposium at Washington State University April
2001.
References
Barbour and Groner. 1973. The Polyisocyanate Straw
Particle Board Process. Report. Oregon State Univ.
Eckert, P. and P. Herr. 1947. Formation of Bridged
Compounds in Cellulose Fibers with Diisocyanates. Kunstseide und Zellwelle,
25, 204-210
Gorzell, K E. 1999a. Board Construction from Ryegrass
Gains Interest. PanelWorld Magazine
November 1999: 16-17. Montgomery, AL.
Particleboard/Composite Materials Symposium Proceedings,
#1-35. 1967-2001. Forest Products Society. Madison, WI.
