14 August 1992 Lincoln Scientist Finds Useful Aussie Input To Agroforestry Development

Valuable information from the Australian experience with agroforestry was gained by Lincoln University senior lecturer Mike Smetham on a recent study period across the Tasman.

One of Mr Smetham's objectives was to find out what research had been done on agroforestry and to what extent farmers had taken up the agroforestry option in Australia. He looked in particular at Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

He discovered that Australia had done quite a lot of research but farmers generally had not latched on to the opportunities which were opening up.

There was a feeling that establishment costs were too high and the waiting period for a return (10 to 25 years) was too long to be attractive.

In Western Australia Mr Smetham found that one solution to the waiting period problem was for the state government to pay farmers an inflation-indexed annuity based on expected returns. The state gets the final return but farmers also get a proportion at clear-felling time.

This had found favour with many farmers who had previously had a "hang up" about spending, said Mr Smetham.

Perhaps it is something that could be looked at in New Zealand if the slow return factor blows up as a major impediment.

Another finding in Australia, described by Mr Smetham as "significant", was that growing trees in groups of five rows with the pasture in-between led to the trees growing almost as fast as they did when wide spaced but without animal performance being impaired to such a degree.

This way the trees can be fenced from an early age. If wide-spaced the pasture has to be spelled.

Like the annuity concept, this was another system New Zealand could perhaps learn from, said Mr Smetham.

Other information collected across the Tasman by Mr Smetham included data on the direct seeding of shelter belts – it eliminates the risks which attend transplanting and, of course, is cheaper.

Australia and New Zealand should be able to share their experiences of agroforestry to mutual benefit, said Mr Smetham, who teaches agroforestry subjects and is on the staff of Lincoln's Plant Science Department.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand