On 31 May the SFFC attended the Integrated Trees On Farm information session organised by the South West Timber Hub and Warren Catchment Council.

The session included information for producers wanting to integrate more tree plantings on their farm or who may be interested in larger tree farming opportunities via WAPRES or Wespine.

An easy tool for assessing if your property may be viable for a project is the Decision Tree, available online. Simply map out the area you think may be suitable and FULLCAM plus satellite data can calculate a projected yield, growth rate and carbon storage based on location and weather data.

Key takeaways from the day:

• Tree plantings can provide many benefits like stock shelter, reduce erosion, aesthetics, potential income when harvested, potential carbon credits for projects over 20ha

• All tree plantings require ongoing maintenance and pruning to increase quality of saw logs, reduce fire risk, provide stock shelter, reduce damage to surrounding fencing or infrastructure and prevent a costly cleanup bill for a 30 yr old unmanaged forest

• Insurance for large scale tree plantings is becoming harder to secure. Wespine are looking to self-insure via pooling funding with project holders to avoid external insurance brokers

• Tree cover on up to 20% of a farm can increase yields even to horticulture crops and provide multiple co-benefits. Over the 20% threshold can see opportunity cost for productive land

• Demand for softwood will grow over next 20 years with current supply unable to keep up. As land values rise, profit sharing arrangements will be more generous for landowners than in the past