Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the winter break, I had the opportunity to attend a study tour organised by the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Forest Products Association at Jigsaw Farms in western Victoria. Quite a few of my Senate colleagues joined me, including Senators Ciccone, Rice, Davey and McLachlan. Nestled at the foot of the Grampians, Jigsaw Farms is a meat, sheep and forestry products farm owned and run by Mark Wootton and Eve Kantor. Visiting the farm, I discovered how agricultural businesses can significantly reduce net carbon emissions without hampering productivity and output, by combining things like meat and sheep farming with planting out non-pasture areas of land with trees which will eventually become forestry products. Since 1997, Jigsaw has been progressively planted out with over 600 hectares of trees, shrubs and native timber species in biodiversity and agroforestry plantations. This is 18 per cent of the total property. Each plantation is guided by the principle that, to be successful for both the farm's bottom line and the environment, it's important to have the right trees planted in the right place for the right purpose, and those trees must be actively managed as you would any other crop.

Though it takes a bit of work, the integrated farming of forestry trees into traditional farms has a dual benefit. Firstly, properly managed farm forestry increases a farm's overall productivity. Secondly, farm forestry has a positive impact on local ecosystems, as well as contributing towards reaching a net zero economy. From an economic point of view, planting the right trees can assist in overall productivity by creating shelter for stock, increasing incidental grazing material and essentially creating a forestry crop as a significant long-term future income source. From a climate and carbon perspective, plantation trees act as a carbon sink. In fact, half the weight of timber is carbon that can be stored long-term in wooden paper products.

In the case of Jigsaw Farms, it has dramatically decreased its carbon footprint since 1997, firstly to net zero and then very close to a net zero level. This is a really encouraging and innovative result for the Australian agriculture industry. The wildlife and habitat of the reforested area at Jigsaw has also benefited woodland birds, frogs, butterflies and native mammals, which take advantage of connected shelter belts and remnant vegetation. Over 165 bird species have been observed on the farms, compared to the 45 that were originally observed when the properties were purchased in 1997. To the credit of Jigsaw Farms, these environmental benefits and productivity gains have been independently verified by academics and experts in the field from the University of Melbourne, who joined us on the trip and talked us through the ecology, science and economics of the farm forestry program. We know the agriculture sector is one of Australia's largest industries, which also faces many climate related challenges. Seeing the work done at Jigsaw Farms, where Mark and Eve live an ethos of experimentation and innovation, shows us that change and adaptation to climate risks is both possible and profitable.

Importantly, the Australian government is also throwing its support behind this agenda of adaptation in forestry farming. The government has launched an $86 million program for plantation establishment which encourages farms to plant trees by providing a grant of $2,000 per hectare. This will encourage other farms to investigate how they can make forestry products part of their production mix.

I want to thank the NFF and AFPA, and especially Mark and Eve, for showing us a truly innovative and smart way of tackling climate change in the agriculture industry. I, for one, left asking more questions, and it made me think more about this and what we need to do in our country.