Heartwood the book - available now
Heartwood: The art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit
- By Rowan Reid
Produced in partnership with Melbourne Books, Heartwood is my most ambitious publishing project to date: A 300-page, hard-cover book featuring 300 colour photographs and more than 75,000 words. More detail .
Sermon from the stump: Video
Rowan Reid (Australian farmer and forest scientist) sits on a stump - one he planted himself - to argue that the divisive debate over forestry has blinded us from the real cause of environmental degradation and the most promising solution.
Bambra Agroforestry Farm tours
More than 120 people visited during our Autumn tours. Future tour dates are yet to be determined. However, we are able to take groups. Contact Rowan for more information about how we can design a perfect tour for your group.
We planted our first trees in 1987. My idea was to establish an outdoor education centre for agroforestry where landholders could explore the opportunities to integrate commercial trees into their farming landscape for conservation, aesthetics and profit. More detail . .
NEW Workshop: Growing farm trees for high quality timber
Sunday 19th August 2018 
9.30am-4.30pm (with 1 hour for lunch)
Price $110.00 Go to SHOP
Location: Bambra Agroforestry Farm (listed in Google Maps, 30min west of Geelong, Vic)
Full-day technical and practical workshop delivered by Rowan Reid on his Bambra Agroforestry Farm
(Bachelor Forest Sci., Masters Forest Sci., Melbourne University lecturer since 1991 and author of 10 books including "Heartwood")
BYO lunch, or you can travel to the nearby Deans Marsh store.
Morning and afternoon tea provided.
Rowan will present lectures in the on-site classroom covering the science of tree growth, tree measurement and pruning and thinning for high quality timber. During the day, field demonstrations of tree management will take participants around the 31-yr-old Bambra Agroforestry Farm. Participants will be given the opportunity to try a range of pruning tools including hand saws, pole saws, loppers and electric pruners. Tree species covered include: eucalypts, Blackwood, Redwoods and deciduous trees (Black Walnut, Oak etc.).
Sorry, no children under 16 years of age due to the use of portable sawmill, chainsaws and other sharp equipment.
Participants will receive printed notes and Rowan's plywood pruning gauge.
Participants must wear suitable footwear for a farm. Hard hats provided.
In the Press:
"Planting, growing and harvesting a riparian forest"
by Rowan Reid
DOWNLOAD PDFArticle in the Victorian Landcare magazine
Introduced by Hon. Lily D'ambrosia MP, Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change: "Agroforestry expert Rowan Reid shares his experiences of planting, growing and harvesting a multipurpose riparian farm forest on his property at Bambra in the Otway Ranges. Rowan believes that a balance can be found between conservation plantings using indigenous species and production forestry that has a positive impact on riparian biodiversity and water quality."
Planting trees along eroded waterways for conservation, then carefully harvesting them for profit, is illegal in some states. Yet, it's okay to let your cows and sheep climb the banks and defecate in the water!
It's time for Landcare to move beyond single-purpose conservation plantings and recognise that mutipurpose forests can deliver positive landscape change.
What is Agroforestry?
For me, agroforestry is the integration of trees and shrubs into farming landscapes for conservation and profit. It's all about farmers using trees to improve the environmental, social and economic values of their land. I've been working with Australian farmers for more than 30 years. From the wheatbelt of Western Australia to the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland I don't think I've ever seen a farm that would not benefit from more tree cover or better forest management.
Welcome to my agroforestry website.After more than 20 years working as a lecturer in agroforestry and farm forestry at The University of Melbourne I'm now freelancing. I maintain my role as coordinator of the Australian Master TreeGrower Program and managing director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation. Privately, I have our Bambra Agroforestry Farm and consultancy business.
This web site presents information, ideas, opinion and research that I think might be of interest to Australian farmers and those who work with them. You can download my own publications, read practical information on tree species and management, take a virtual tour of our own Bambra Agroforestry Farm and watch videos on harvesting, integrating trees into farming systems and shiitake production.
I'm happy to try and answer your email questions at no charge (go to Ask Rowan). I am also available for speaking engagements, field days, consultancies and can organise tours of my property and other leading agroforestry farms around Australia. For those in the many agencies working with farmers I can also organise and run workshops and courses that reflect your needs.
I hope you find the site useful.
Thanks for your interest, Rowan More about Rowan Reid
Australian Master TreeGrower
I ran the first Australian Master TreeGrower course in 1996. Since then, more than 2500 landholder have completed one of the 107 courses run across the country. In 2012 we ran the first course in Africa (Uganda) and have since run MTG courses in Indonesia and East Timor.
The Master TreeGrower Program is run by the Australian Agroforestry Foundation
