Fifth generation reaps rewards of 40,000 on-farm trees
THE Stewart family’s long-term revegetation plan has transformed their land into a more healthy, profitable and joyful place to farm. CAMILLE SMITH reports.
TO CONVINCE farmers to plant trees, you need to show them the benefits.
Fourth-generation sheep farmers Andrew and Jill Stewart are fully aware of this fact.
That is why they invite people to tour their glorious Otways farm, where the economic, environmental and social advantages of planting trees are clearly visible.
The 234-hectare property at Deans Marsh, in southwest Victoria, has been farmed by the Stewart family for the past 113 years.
The land had been cleared to 3 per cent tree coverage by past generations.
Harsh drought in 1982 led to a moment of clarity for Andrew and Jill.
“We nearly got blown off the face of a hill over there putting a fence up,” Jill says, recalling the stark scene of soil literally disappearing with the wind.
“We both just looked at each other and thought, ‘we need to plant some trees’.
“We needed to do something about better shelter, stopping wind erosion, covering all the problems that exposure causes, and shelter and shade for stock as well.”
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Andrew’s father, Lindsey, was a bird lover and had started planting trees years earlier to bring bird species back to the property.
The couple took this revegetation strategy to the next level, charting a 20-year whole farm plan that incorporated trees to provide shelter, water filtration systems and harvestable timber.
“We call it a biological infrastructure,” says Andrew, who is an agroforestry supporter and founded the Otway Agroforestry Network with tree expert Rowan Reid in 1993.
Since then, the family has put in more than 40,000 trees and shrubs to achieve 18 per cent vegetation coverage without decreasing their stocking rate or seeing any drop in lamb production.
The Stewarts run a flock of 1230 ewes, turning off 1500-1700 prime lambs a year.
“What we’re doing here is to integrate the trees so that we maintain our agricultural production, while addressing the issues of erosion, salinity, water logging, wind erosion and the decline in the ecological status of the property,” Andrew says, “and also to develop tree products.”
HOME CALLS
The mental-health benefits of the trees are also huge, Jill says.
“There are a lot of problems with farmer depression,” she says. “And if you are walking out of your house into a barren landscape to do a day’s work, it is very depressing.
“Whereas we walk out of our house into a beautiful landscape, so it is a pleasure to go out and do work on the farm.”
It is not just Andrew and Jill who believe in the value of the trees — their three daughters are passionate about the holistic approach and want to add their own contribution to the farm’s landscape.
“All three of us girls want to stay on the farm,” says daughter Kristy, 25, an ag-science graduate who is chomping at the bit to create more “stacked” enterprises on the farm, following the lead of US farmer Joel Salatin.
“For me, it is because it is beautiful,” Kristy says.
“But also it is very much in line with my philosophies and morals about what we need to be doing in the world to deal with a lot of the big issues that our generation is facing, and that’s around climate change and landscape degradation.”
Kristy’s sisters, zoology graduate Hannah, 27, and artist Michelle, 29, feel the same.
GROUND FORCE
With support from Landcare, Jill and Andrew’s first mass planting was along the Yan Yan Gurt Creek, which runs through their property for about 2km. Then, they put in tree shelter belts, with some 10-tree wide corridors of blue gums.
“We use the plantations to subdivide land classes on the farm,” Jill says. “So, we weren’t just putting in 100 acres (40 hectares) of trees. We were using them to divide paddocks to manage the pasture and soil better.”
Soil tests helped guide the plantings.
More recently, they fenced off nine of their 11 dams, planting out the banks to filter water and decrease evaporation.
Fruit trees and native flowers — including kunzeas, hakeas, proteas, leucadendrons and 28 species of banksia — surround one of the dams, planted in 2010 in partnership with Andrew’s brother, Hugh.
Jill harvests the flowers to supply weddings and events, as well as selling at their farm gate, which has brought in enough income for her to quit her part-time roles at vet clinics in Geelong.
The natural wildlife — including 110 species of birds, plus bugs and microorganisms — have returned, enriching soils across the farm.
The “icing on the cake”, as Jill describes it, is the timber, which can be harvested selectively and sold to artisan makers or timber retailers who want sustainably produced wood.
The family has used it to build a cob studio, where Michelle creates her artwork.
They also run about 15 farm tours a year, inviting the public, school groups and other farmers to learn about their regenerative approach first-hand.
“We’re working on the next 20-year plan, which includes the girls obviously,” Jill says. “They are all pretty passionate about holistic farming.”
SHOW TIME
Kristy Stewart is organising speakers for the Otway Food and Fibre Showcase, in Colac on Sunday, April 28.
Rowan Reid will talk about the Otways Agroforestry Network that he and Andrew Stewart created.
Pastured chook farmer Xavier Prime, of Chooks and the Rooke, will reveal how he has grown his free-range egg business while regenerating the landscape.
Free-range pig producers Xavier and Laura Meade, of Barongarook Pork, will take part in a butchery demo and talk about their pastured approach. Plus, vet and agriculture adviser Helen McGregor, pork producer Tammi Jonas, wool grower Tom Dennis, chef Dan Hunter of Brae and holistic management expert Tony Hill are on the schedule.
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