Soil degradation is one of the challenges to sustainable tree plantations that have effects on tree growth, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem stability. The other factors affecting soil deterioration reduce soil productivity and consequently disrupt the ecosystem balance.

Deforestation: Abandoning any tree for the sake of agriculture or urbanization causes structural problems in soils and degrades organic matter. This ruins the whole purpose of a tree plantation because trees are very significant in ensuring soil stability and fertility.

Erosion: The deep topsoil, rich in nutrient content, is blown away by wind and washed away by water and difficult for plants to grow. More evidence of tree plantation is void of soil loss when trees take root-they hold the soil and prevent erosion.

Agrochemical Pollution: Excessive use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers can reduce soil nutrient content. More importantly, they kill beneficial microorganisms. Hence, such degraded soil fetches low production from agricultural activities and drastically disrupts ecosystems, compelling the need for tree plantation in life.

Soil Compaction: Heavy machinery and overgrazing compact the soil, impeding aeration and infiltration. The resulting poor soil conditions hamper the growth of trees, derailing the purpose of tree plantations-aids in improving greenery and the environment.

The production chain with natural products has three major parts to consider. The
fi rst is agricultural, followed by, for example, extraction to get a concentrated
raw extract, and in pharmaceutical applications (not with cosmetics and nutraceuticals) a fi nal purifi cation step is necessary in order to get an ultrapure product.
All the steps combined contribute to the overall yield and determine the fi nal
economics.
To highlight the importance of including the complete production chain, we
can consider growing a crop of plants containing oleanoic acid. This is found in
several plants (almond hulls, privet, rosemary, thyme, clove, lavender, olive, hawthorn, periwinkle etc.) with a content less than 1% in dry mass. Higher values
were observed only with a different kind of sage. The value varies with location
and local climate (e.g., Germany versus Greece), types of soil (sandy, thus irrigation needed), distance between the growing rows and cultivar. With the latter,
higher content is with plants from scions obtained through vegetative reproduction ( Salvia offi cinalis ) compared with those from sowing ( S. lavendulifolia ).
However, planting with scions is very labor - intensive, which has quite an impact
in respect to labor costs, and sowing is then the alternative. Optimal conditions
for sage are with warm and wind - protected sites, with a light soil containing
compost and water. Dry periods are no major problem and the plants should
grow in rows (distance 25 – 50 cm) as depicted in Figure 1.7 [15] . Usually, the
useful life is four to fi ve years and for soil recovery a four - year interval is recommended. If the plants are used to gain pharmaceutical extracts, all cultivation steps
(sowing, manuring etc.) must be documented and with pest management any
pesticide (date, dosage etc.) must be registered. With sage the use of herbicides is
forbidden and two cuts per year are recommended. After air classifi cation the
leaves are dried and according to the Deutsches Arzneibuch only 2% impurities are

The production chain with natural products has three major parts to consider. The
fi rst is agricultural, followed by, for example, extraction to get a concentrated
raw extract, and in pharmaceutical applications (not with cosmetics and nutraceuticals) a fi nal purifi cation step is necessary in order to get an ultrapure product
To highlight the importance of including the complete production chain, we
can consider growing a crop of plants containing oleanoic acid. This is found in
several plants (almond hulls, privet, rosemary, thyme, clove, lavender, olive, hawthorn, periwinkle etc.) with a content less than 1% in dry mass. Higher values
were observed only with a different kind of sage. The value varies with location
and local climate (e.g., Germany versus Greece), types of soil (sandy, thus irrigation needed), distance between the growing rows and cultivar. With the latter,
higher content is with plants from scions obtained through vegetative reproduction ( Salvia offi cinalis ) compared with those from sowing ( S. lavendulifolia ).
However, planting with scions is very labor - intensive, which has quite an impact
in respect to labor costs, and sowing is then the alternative. Optimal conditions
for sage are with warm and wind - protected sites, with a light soil containing
compost and water. Dry periods are no major problem and the plants should
grow in rows (distance 25 – 50 cm) as depicted in Figure 1.7 [15] . Usually, the
useful life is four to fi ve years and for soil recovery a four - year interval is recommended. If the plants are used to gain pharmaceutical extracts, all cultivation steps
(sowing, manuring etc.) must be documented and with pest management any
pesticide (date, dosage etc.) must be registered. With sage the use of herbicides is
forbidden and two cuts per year are recommended