Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator White really inspired me today. I have a very similar speech about the fantastic study tour that a group of us, including Senator Rice and a number of others from the coalition—including Senator Perin Davey and Senator McLachlan—went on, which was organised by the NFF and AFPA. The tour was led by none other than Joel Fitzgibbon, the former minister of agriculture and defence. It was really great to see some old friends take us out to western Victoria. If anyone is listening, I do encourage you to head down to western Victoria, a very prime place for tourism and also for agriculture, as we all know. The group of parliamentarians from right across the political spectrum went to visit Jigsaw Farms, which is about 15 kilometre north of Hamilton. The family property—managed by Mark Wootton and his wife, Eve—is a leading farm forestry operation that is incorporating eucalyptus tree production alongside traditional red meat production.

Mark was part of Australia's delegation to the United Nations climate change conference, COP27, last year. During COP27 he took part in an event, alongside the Australian Forest Products Association and the National Farmers Federation, where he highlighted how his farm was an example of how agriculture and forestry are an essential part of the solution to climate change. Who would have thought of environmentalists and capitalists working together to benefit not just the environment but also our economy? Mark highlighted how his farm is a prime example of how we can all work together and how about 20 per cent of his farm was converted to trees—half for farm forestry and the other half for biodiversity. This has allowed him to carry a great number of livestock, thanks to the shelter provided by his trees. In fact, from my understanding, there were 700 calves, 700 breeding cattle and over 22,000 lambs on his farm. I took great interest in Jigsaw Farms as a case study. I want to say thanks to Mark and Eve, to AFPA and NFF for hosting us. It really shows how agriculture and forestry can work together and are essential allies in the fight against climate change.

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As it's now 1.30, we'll move to two-minute statements.