Trees on Farms Initiative

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (15:28): My question is to the Minister for Forest Industries. Can the minister update the council about the work being done by the state government to encourage trees on farms?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:29): With your indulgence, Mr President, I would just respond to an earlier question which I said I would try to come back to during this question time. The question was in regard to Thriving Communities and whether a council could apply. I just wanted to double-check my recollections, which I have now been able to do. That particular part of the fund is open to registered charities and incorporated associations. Councils may auspice an application on behalf of a community or industry group. Thank you for your indulgence.

I thank the honourable member for her question. It's no secret to this place that the Malinauskas Labor government is extremely ambitious for the forest industry. In the lead-up to the last election, we announced a suite of election policies to assist with the continued growth of an industry that is a significant employer in the state, in particular in the state's South-East.

If we are looking at radiata pine, a tree takes roughly 30 years from being planted to being harvested, so it is critical for our future fibre needs that we meet the challenges that face us now. While commercial plantation forestry is the most common form of fibre provision in South Australia, it is important that we are constantly looking at ways to add more timber to the market.

One way of doing that is through Trees on Farm. That's why the Department of Primary Industries and Regions has released a series of information initiatives aimed at advising farmers and landowners who may potentially be interested in the on-farm forest plantation to be able to look at what is available as part of the Trees on Farm initiative.

This includes a toolkit developed by the South Australian government in tandem with the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub. The toolkit features expert information to support and guide landowners and farmers in their potential on-farm plantation investment. In addition to the toolkit, other information for prospective growers is also available from five research reports and associated seminar videos conducted under the Trees on Farm initiative from both the PIRSA and Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub websites. The research projects focused on short-rotation silviculture. They include topics such as:

development of rotation silviculture. This explored current and alternative Tasmanian blue gum (hardwood) and radiata pine (softwood) management regimes. By considering expected time frames for harvest, the farm property plan and intended markets, there is potential to match a range of forest management regimes to an individual farmer's property and production system. It is important to note that every property is different and unique;

enhancing commercial viability via logistics and processes. This includes a snapshot of Green Triangle softwood processors and hardwood woodchip exporters, tables of indicative softwood and hardwood harvest yields, indicative harvesting and haulage costs, approximate roading costs, and typical mill door prices;

spatial analysis of suitable land areas for trees into farming. Four plantation management regimes are modelled using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator, and likely forest wood harvest volumes generated at thinning and final harvest across the project area are shown on the map; and

comparison of the Emissions Reduction Fund methods. This primarily compared the ACCU scheme plantation forestry method, which focuses on new plantation forests for commercial harvest, with the farm forestry method, which incorporates both harvest plantation projects for saleable forest products and permanent planting projects. Among the conclusions from this project, the analysis suggested that the plantation forestry method is likely to be a better option if a plantation is established for harvesting wood products.

This initiative is part of a two-year, $650,000 Trees on Farm initiative jointly funded by the commonwealth and state governments, and aims to boost the growth and development of the on-farm forestry plantation sector with of course a particular focus in the Green Triangle region. It's important that this is seen as part of existing farm businesses and as a boost to those businesses as part of a mixture in terms of income streams and land usage. I look forward to being able to update the chamber further in the future as this project further develops.