#37 Increasing tree cover from 3% to 20% for resilience, profit and biodiversity with Jill and Andrew Stewart
The Regenerative Agroforestry PodcastShow Notes
Andrew and Jill Stewart are owners and managers of Yan Yan Gurt West Farm in the Otway Ranges, Southern Victoria, Australia. For the past 30 years, they have taken regenerative agriculture extremely seriously in order to solve problems of soil salinisation, soil erosion, climate change and animal welfare. In order to do so they have planted 23kms of shelterbelts and riparian buffers, connected into a complex ecological mosaic to produce both ecosystem services and a huge variety of new enterprises. Since they started planting trees they have increased tree cover from 3% to 20%, without reducing any of their sheep productivity. Quite the contrary, they have opened up a whole new set of enterprises from saw logs to woody florals. Tune in to find out more about this incredible transition! TABLE OF CONTENTS 01:40 Introduction 08:50 The story of the farm 15:00 Main productions 25:34 Timber production 36:07 Harvest and milling 44:43 Economic decision of harvesting shelter belts 52:36 Do trees increase too much fixed costs? 59:13 Are subsidies necessary to justify economically agroforestry plantations? 01:06:29 Tree - Pasture interaction 01:15:01 Managing weeds when planting young trees • RESOURCES https://www.facebook.com/yanyangurtwestfarm/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3KXLsj2qLw&t=306s • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Regenerative Agroforestry Podcast
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In this episode I discuss with Claire Lemarié her experience working with farmers in the Pays de la Loire region in France, where she is a technical adviser for the chamber of agriculture. She has precious insights into the management of mature hedges, as this region still has a significant amount of bocage: a traditional french hedge layout. In this interview we gain an understanding of why effective information sharing between farmers is crucial to creating innovative agroforestry systems and how she enables peer to peer exchange through the 'Club des Agroforestiers'. • RESOURCES https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-lemari%C3%A9-34b667155/?originalSubdomain=fr Youtube video Chambre d'agriculture de la Loire • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram • FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN PROJECTS https://explore.ecosia.org/regenerative-agriculture Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Coppicing is an ancient and modern tree management system. Coppicing is known for its multi-functionality: capable of producing biomass, animal forage, firewood and much more. Today we interview Mark Krawczyk, practitioner, consultant and author of 'Coppice Agroforestry'. In this interview we tackle some of the practical challenges of coppicing, to better understand the economic potential of this technique. Mark demonstrates a variety of nuances and compromises, showing us the versatility as well as the key challenges of this technique. TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:02:22 Introduction 00:13:19 What are the key concepts of coppicing 00:27:50 What impact on tree health? 00:39:12 What prospects for mechanising management? 00:51:44 What uses for coppiced wood? 01:17:42 What effect of coppicing on surrounding plants? 01:22:24 Productivity of coppice stands 01:29:14 In relation to soil types • RESOURCES https://www.keylinevermont.com/ http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/ https://regenerativeskills.com/mark-krawczyk-on-coppice-agroforestry-and-woodland-management-part-1/ • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram • FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN PROJECTS https://explore.ecosia.org/regenerative-agriculture Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bruce Maynard and his family are livestock managers and row crop farmers in New South Wales in Austalia. Over his carreer, he has succesfully integrated shrubs and trees to their livestock and row crop operation. He has been able to double his stocking rate through increasing the ecological function of the farm. We dig deep into the design of his tree systems and how it has evloved over the years. We unpack in detail how he has been able to transform his landscape on such a large scale and how this was possible from a business perspective. TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:01:21 Bruce's story and description of the farm 00:10:06 No-kill cropping 00:15:05 Complexifying the landscape 00:22:57 Design over time 00:30:19 Taking machinery into account 00:37:57 Specifics of saltbush 00:42:30 Recovery times between bush and pasture 00:54:06 Microclimatic benefits 00:57:30 Planting trees at scale and its logistics 01:10:30 Management of trees/shrubs 01:16:00 Business strategy and cashflow 01:19:32 Ressources to go further • RESOURCES http://selfherding.com/index.html https://stressfreestockmanship.com.au/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHzo0fDBZs0 • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram • FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN PROJECTS https://explore.ecosia.org/regenerative-agriculture Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What have we learnt from 30 years at one of the most prominent agroforestry research sites in the world? In collaboration with AGROMIX, We are excited to present an interview with Christian Dupraz, a leading agroforestry researcher from INRAE Montpellier. This is one of our rare 'in person' interviews where we discussed years of findings under the alley cropping walnut trees of the Domaine de Restinclières. We analysed many technical details such as tree - crop competition, tree pruning and adapted tree species. We also discussed socio-economic aspects such as the relationship with the local farmers and the reason why alley cropping systems have not yet been scaled. Enjoy! TABLE OF CONTENTS 02:25 Introduction 11:12 Experiment today 13:38 Growth rate of trees 17:43 Impact of AF on the quality of the wood 20:13 Considerations to produce a straight trunk 00:22 Impact on arable crop 00:26:45 Competition between crop and tree 00:30:18 Effect of pollarding on tree quality 00:33:56 How do the trees effect the row crop farmer? 00:38:08 How would tree crops fare in alley cropping? 00:39:32 Increase in bat population and its benefits 00:44:36 Main mistakes 00:48:05 What context for alley cropping to be successful? 00:56:30 Why do we not see more alley cropping? • RESOURCES https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christian-Dupraz-3 https://agromixproject.eu/ • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram • FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN PROJECTS https://explore.ecosia.org/regenerative-agriculture • FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR COLLABORATION WITH AGROMIX HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.