Imagine if all construction timbers in Australia were grown in a way that regenerated degraded farm soils, improved livestock health, provided biodiversity habitat for endangered species and created beautiful, healthy landscapes that stitched together bioregional communities.
Over 20% of agricultural land in Australia is affected by salting or other forms of degradation that comprimise its use for growing crops and livestock grazing.1 Much of this land could be remediated by planting native trees, providing supplementary income streams for farmers in the form of valuable timbers and flowers, while providing additional benefits including reducing livestock deaths by sheltering from exposure to sun and wind, improving soil health by holding more water in the landscape and increasing biologically beneficial insect and bird populations, enhancing biodiversity and creating beautiful aesthetic environments across regional Australia.
AGROFOS is a proposal for a platform to facilitate the growth of agroforestry as a timber industry by connecting agroforestry growers, timber mills, timber yards, specifiers, customers and investors. The platform will facilitate the delivery of agroforestry timbers onto projects by smoothing out current supply chain issues, while at the same time gathering the data required to help grow the industry, secure investment and plant more trees on farms.
The AGROFOS platform is currently in pre-development stage. Please reach out to get involved or learn more about the platform or agroforestry.
1. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4834/3/1/16