Welcome to Rowan Reid's web page
Rowan Reid (B.For.Sci. & M.For.Sci.) is a forester amongst farmers. His passion for trees began as a child in the coastal eucalypt forests of southern Victoria and has led to a life teaching and working with farmers around the world. Rowan won the 2001 Australian Eureka Prize for Excellence in Environmental Education for his farmer course (The Australian Master TreeGrower), which he continues to deliver around Australia and internationally (Africa, Timor Leste, Indonesia etc.).
A Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne for 20 years, Rowan continues his academic teaching and research as a Senior Fellow of the university and the managing director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation (a not-for-profit organisation). Since the publication of Agroforestry in Australia and New Zealand (1985), Rowan has written or co-authored eight other books and is an internationally recognised leader in farmer education and extension.
Most importantly, Rowan is also a farmer and tree grower in his own right, with a family farm in the Otway Ranges of southern Victoria where he helped establish one of Australia's most successful Landcare groups, the Otway Agroforestry Network. More than 10,000 visitors have toured his Bambra Agroforestry Farm, which is set up as a 42-hectare outdoor classroom for farmers, scientists, students and tree lovers, and a living laboratory for his own learning.
Web Site Contents:
Bambra Agroforestry Farm: tours and courses
Rowan new book: Heartwood - the art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit
Publications: lots of free book chapters, articles and papers written by Rowan Reid
Practical information: on growing and managing trees on farms
Tree Species: some examples of the species we grow for hgih quality timber
Ask Rowan: send an email question
Heartwood: The art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit
The book that is changing the way people think about the future of forestry.
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 .
Get a signed copy from the author: CLICK HERE
Bambra Agroforestry Farm
Where's Bambra Agroforestry Farm
Follow Rowan's Bambra Agroforestry Farm
Rowan's short videos: Opinion, science and practice based on real experience
Video: Quartersawing on a bandsaw
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.
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
