While the notion promoted for decades that farmers could make an income from planted trees has largely failed to take hold, a new project could point to generation of additional income from stock shelter and carbon, before considering income from timber sales.

It is a farm forestry option which could provide short-term benefits to farm businesses, while waiting for longer-term timber sales.

Plantations for Australia: The 2020 Vision, launched in 1997, included the objective of a transition from industrial scale plantations to smaller scale farm forestry.

"It hasn’t happened on a significant scale," said David Thompson of the Northern Inland Forestry Investment Group and 2020 Vision national co-ordinator.

"Only eight per cent of the 1.9 million hectare national plantation estate can been described as farm forestry," he said.

Managed Investment Schemes are the major contributor to Australia’s future wood supply security, though the focus is on short rotation pulpwood plantations, and shortages of sawlogs are looming.

"On the Northern Tablelands, for example, farmers were not willing to replace annual agricultural incomes from grazing or cropping, with a long-term uncertain income from timber sales," Mr Thompson said.

"Most farm forestry in the region is through opportunistic harvesting of existing private native forests, rather than from trees specifically planted for timber."

The Engineered Woodlands project has been spawned to address the situation, with funding assistance from the Namoi and Border Rivers-Gwydir CMAs.

Since inception of the project in Spring 2007, the potential of this farm forestry system has been enhanced by the release of the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

It is possible agriculture will be captured in the greenhouse gas emissions reduction net by 2015.

At present, offsetting emissions through tree planting is a key mitigation option under the scheme.

Farmers will want to integrate trees into their systems in the most beneficial way, minimising disruption to agricultural income.

The Engineered Woodlands concept may fit the bill - analysis of contour plantings based on data from a farm near Armidale suggests the concept can generate additional income from stock shelter alone, even without income from timber sales.

Case study model suggests economic benefits possible

Economic benefits from shelter in a contour planted engineered woodland were estimated by modelling for a typical New England sheep property, "The Hill", near Armidale.

Tree establishment costs were $421 per hectare.

Benefits were a 50 per cent reduction in sheep death rates and lambing rates increasing from 80 to 90pc.

Stock were excluded from the tree plantings during establishment, gradually reintroduced in year two, and increased until normal carrying capacity was resumed five to six years after planting.

It was assumed that planting trees in stages would make it possible to maintain overall farm stocking rates, by moving stock to other paddocks while trees established.

These parameters were run through a hypothetical Northern Tablelands farm model assuming a 10 year tree development period, covering 11pc of the farm (15 ha planted annually for 10 years).

Benefits for improved lambing and death rates were phased in over the development period.

No timber returns were included in the model.

Results indicate a substantial return on investment in shelter as a result of higher lambing rates, lower deaths and therefore increased sales of surplus ewe and wether hoggets.

Contact Brendan George, Tamworth, (02) 6763 1238, or David Thompson, Northern Inland Forestry Investment Group, 0419 681 818.

Further reading

Private forestry