Industrial Ecology and the Geoenvironment - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 123

Upstream
Production and Harvesting

Midstream-downstream
Agroprocessing industries

Food industries
Food, Beverage and Tobacco Non-food industries

Textiles, clothing
Tanning and leather goods
Pulp and paper
Newsprint, topics
Furniture
Building products
Energy, fertilizers,
etc.

Fish, fruit and food canning
Flour milling, bakery
Cheese and butter
Cereals and other like products
Alcoholic beverages
Oils and vegetable fats
Tobacco products
Food services,
etc.

FIGURE 4.7
Various types of midstream-downstream agroprocessing industries.

have been covered in detail in the previous chapter dealing with Agricultural-Based Food
Production Geoenvironment Stressors . The agroindustry covers many sectors, ranging from
production of the raw farm goods (e.g., crops and livestock as will be discussed in Chapter
6) to the processing and production (i.e., transformation) of end-use products, including
such consumables as cheese, bread, cotton fabrics, leather goods, etc.
One of the major sources of stressors on the geoenvironment from agricultural pro-
duction is the waste derived from livestock and dairy farming. Management of manure
waste from livestock can be in the natural discharged form or as a liquid. The latter form
of manure management—i.e., liquid manure—is seen as a major source of methane (CH 4 )
emission. Disposal of the natural discharged manure is most often on the land surface,
thereby creating chemical stressors that will impact on soil and groundwater quality. The
discussion on these stressor impacts and geoenvironmental engineering measures for
management of these impacts can be found in Chapters 6 and 10.
Midstream industries deal with initial processing of products for manufacture and pro-
duction from upstream agroindustries. Their products are utilized by downstream indus-
tries dealing with manufacture and production of inal or inished goods. Forestry and
forest products are included in the agroindustry category. The downstream industries
associated with forest products include all the wood products such as pulp and paper,
furniture, etc. Although the use of agents such as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and
fertilizers is a major part of regular and intensive agricultural practices, the industries
involved in the manufacture of these agents are not included in the agroprocessing or
general agroindustry classiication. Instead, these will be considered in the grouping of
petrochemical and chemical industries .