Van Zant, Miriam Kritzer

OpenSIUC

   AgriboardAgriboard, lumber substitutes made from plant fibers, are revolutionizing how plant wastes are used and has potential for far ranging impact on agriculture, forestry and conservation. Typing agriboard into a search engine brings up nearly 100 web pages. Three of these pages have been reviewed and are offered here for your examination.The first is an in-depth report from Environmental Building News, Vol. 4 (No. 3) and offers an excellent, balanced overview on the use of wheat straw lumber in homebuilding.The second article reviewed by EBL, Environmental Building News, Vol. 4 (No. 6), is a brief commentary on this topic including reaction to use of this material by an architect. Third is an excerpt written by David Morris, from the book, 'Non-woody Fibers and the Future of Rural Economics," edited by J. Janick., discussing general use of plant fibers for building materials. This last entry is of particular interest as it discusses cellulose for construction, from non-timber sources, in a broad sense.That opens the door to using native prairie grasses and other native plant resources to provide income from restored land . This is especially important for land which would otherwise be converted to cash crops and for areas which have lain fallow for several years but recently lost set aside status. It has also been pointed out that most areas loosing set aside status are eligible for organic certification. Production of agriboard fiber has potential to stand alone or easily dovetail with organic agriculture to aid conservation.MKVZantReturn to Home PageSouthern Illinois University Carbondale / Ethnobotanical Leaflets /  URL: http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/ Last updated: 17-May-98 / du 

Agriboard

http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1374&context=ebl

Agriboard

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