Post #1924758

2026-04-05 20:58 UTC

Or is that just propaganda to prevent palm oil from taking to much marketshare? You need at least 3 times as much farmland to make an equal amount of any other form of vegetable oil. Most farm oil used in Europe is from sustainable farming, Indonesia makes 50% of the palm oil on the global market, and they claim to have regulated palm oil farming to be sustainable. Palm oil is an excellent oil, it is efficient to grow because of very high yields, and it's been used for thousands of years.

Replies (4)

@paraphrand@lemmy.world 2026-04-05 21:25

Well, I hope you are correct and that there are no reasons for Indonesia to be lying about that. Demand has only gone up in the past few decades. It’s in more and more highly processed foods. I don’t think any of this changes past deforestation, either.

Open ##1924759
@robocall@lemmy.world 2026-04-05 21:26

I heard that palm oil plantations deforest where orangutans live and I wouldn't want to destroy their habitat. Why can't America grow palm oil instead of so much corn and soy beans?

Open ##1924760
@Barley_Man@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-05 22:53

Since oil palms only grow in humid tropical environments it really comes down to which land we value the most. By using 3 hectares in Europe we could save 1 hectare of land in rainforests. What is worth more, 1 hectare rainforest in Indonesia or 3 hectares of native woodland in Europe? It's not really clear cut. One could argue that 1 hectare of rainforest is more valuable because of the higher biodiversity. However there is not one natural answer to this question and ultimately subjective.

Open ##1924761
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-05 21:15

Palm oil is almost or entirely unique among plant oils in that it is solid at room temperature without hydrogenation, so it's a plant oil that behaves like an animal fat in recipes. How's it compare to lard in sustainability?

Open ##1924762