Cattail Production Chain Development in Northeast Friesland Cattail Cultivation Consultancy March. 2015 Academic Consultancy Training (YMC-60809) Period 3-4, 2015 Project 1482 Program Better Wetter Cattail Production Chain Development in Northeast Friesland Commissioner: Rianne Vos Knowledge Centre Northeast Friesland Cattail Cultivation Consultancy Manager: Lisanne van Beek Secretary: Denys van den Berg Controller: Wenyan Zheng Member: Xueyuan Leng, Maarten Verhoog, Egbert Bernard Wesselink II Summary In this report, we identified the whole production chain of cattail in Friesland. We selected three species, which are suitable for cultivation and production, from the approximately 30 species in the Typha genus. The growing conditions of T. latifolia, T. angustifolia and T. × glauca were investigated. Based on the cattail growing conditions and actual situation in Friesland, we investigated the natural locations and recommended several locations for cattail cultivation. Furthermore, we visited a growing location in Friesland and designed an artificial growing bed for a pilot project. Harvesting is also an essential section in this production chain. We studied and compared suitable harvesting methods in costs, advantages and disadvantages. Production is the section that makes cattail raw material into high-value products. We focused on bio-laminate and insulation material. The uses and production processes of these products were investigated. To identify the market we investigated the product price, market size, market demand and product advantages of bio-laminate and insulation material. We also compared cattail based products with traditional products in their current markets and made an assessment and give recommendations on cattail based production. Additionally, the farmers are essential stakeholders in this production chain. Hence, we also studied the impact of introducing cattail cultivation on local agriculture in Friesland. I Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 2. Cattail cultivation ................................................................................................................. 3 2.1. Growing conditions .................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1. Typha latifolia......................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2. Typha angustifolia .................................................................................................. 3 2.1.3. Typha glauca .......................................................................................................... 4 2.1.4. Growing conditions of the three species .................................................................. 5 2.2. Growing locations ...................................................................................................... 5 2.2.1. Friesland ................................................................................................................. 5 2.2.2. Northeast Friesland ................................................................................................. 8 2.2.3. Veenwoude ............................................................................................................. 9 2.3. Artificial growing beds ............................................................................................. 10 2.3.1. Conditions for suitable locations of the artificial growing beds .............................. 10 2.3.2. Design of artificial growing beds .......................................................................... 12 2.3.3. Design of artificial growing bed for Northeast Friesland ....................................... 13 2.3.4. Expected yields ..................................................................................................... 15 3. Harvesting methods ............................................................................................................ 17 4. Production and processing of bio-laminate and insulating material ..................................... 21 4.1. Using cattail for Bio-laminate ................................................................................... 21 4.2. Using cattail for insulation material .......................................................................... 22 4.2.1. Products ................................................................................................................ 22 4.2.2. Production Procedure ............................................................................................ 23 5. Market Identification .......................................................................................................... 25 5.1. Insulating Material ................................................................................................... 25 5.1.1. Market Volume ..................................................................................................... 26 5.1.2. Price Comparison .................................................................................................. 27 5.1.3. Reasons for Minor Market Importance of Insulating Materials .............................. 28 5.1.4. Assessment of cattail as source for insulating materials ......................................... 28 5.1.5. Recommendations cattail as insulating material .................................................... 29 5.2. Bio-laminate ............................................................................................................. 30 5.2.1. Market situation .................................................................................................... 30 5.2.2. Cattail based floorings .......................................................................................... 31 II 5.2.3. Recommendations cattail in laminate floorings ..................................................... 32 6. Impact of cattail cultivation on agriculture situation............................................................ 33 6.1. Actual farming situation in Northeast Friesland ........................................................ 33 6.1.1. Actual farming situation in Northeast Friesland ..................................................... 33 6.1.2. Introducing cattail as growing alternative .............................................................. 34 6.2. Model calculation cattail cultivation ......................................................................... 34 7. Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 37 7.1. Growing conditions .................................................................................................. 37 7.2. Growing locations .................................................................................................... 37 7.2.1. Provincial scale ..................................................................................................... 37 7.2.2. Regional scale ....................................................................................................... 38 7.2.3. Veenwoude ........................................................................................................... 38 7.2.4. Natural locations ................................................................................................... 38 7.3. Artificial growing beds ............................................................................................. 39 7.4. Harvesting ................................................................................................................ 40 7.5. Market identification ................................................................................................ 40 7.6. Cultivating cattail on agricultural land ...................................................................... 41 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 43 9. References .......................................................................................................................... 44 III 1. Introduction For more than a thousand years most of the lowland areas in the Netherlands, located in the western and northern part, were peatlands. Peatlands had an important role in environment and resource management issues (Charman, 2002). In the past, peatlands were used for water management in the Netherlands (Moore & Bellamy, 1974), by providing a location to store access water. Nowadays however, only a few paltry residues of this landscape remain. As a consequence, more and more water has to be pumped elsewhere during winter time. This is also the case for Friesland, a province of the Netherlands (see Figure xx, the squared area). Research data show that, until the 1960s a total of 100.000 ha were flooded regularly during winter time (Better Wetter, 2013). The corresponding wet conditions of flooding, a result of high precipitation events and a limited amount of drainage, control the existence of peatlands. The type of a peatland is defined by two fundamental factors: source of nutrients and source of water. These factors have contributed to the fact that in Friesland two types of peat can be distinguished. Bogs are ombrotrophic peatlands dependent on precipitation for water and nutrient supply, whereas minerotrophic peatlands