Planting Farm Trees.
Planting farm trees is best when you plant with community
friends. I had a great day tree planting in a wetland area on farm with 30 new
friends. It was really fun! So much fun that I will continue to invite the
community rather than using contractors.
The environment and protecting the quality of our rivers
& streams is a community responsibility. Farms need to engage their local
communities in helping to plant trees, Trees that are aesthetically beautiful, trees
that are ECO-Sourced, trees for bees, trees that reduce N leaching.
What few farmers appreciate is that the community want to
help, they enjoy planting trees, they enjoy planting trees with their children
and they like having fun together. Isnt that great….a community having fun
together! WOW!
We invited members of our community to come & help plant trees. Horizons the local Regional Council has been involved from the start & have been very helpful to get ECO-Sourced trees from the local region & trees at a reasonable price.
We invited Massey University Young Farmers to join us as a fund raiser.........it was exciting having all ages working together for the good of the community & the environment.
We invited Massey University Young Farmers to join us as a fund raiser.........it was exciting having all ages working together for the good of the community & the environment.
We plan to plant a total of 20 hectares (17%) in trees out
of a total 120 hectares. Some of you might think that is a very big percentage
of a pasture based dairy farm? We are planting areas near waterways, riparian
planting along rivers & streams. Also due to Nitrate leaching risks we are
changing the land use (away from grazing to trees & cropping) based on a NZ
system of land classification.
25% of farm area
into habitat planting in UK
There is an opportunity here to move away from selling commodities and to add value before the milk leaves the farm. Tracing the product's provenance from farm to fridge needs to be talked about much more in NZ. Factors such as Biodiversity, wildlife, water quality are attributes that could add value to dairy products that are sold in China, India & the EU. There are schemes such as LEAF in the UK and ECO-PLAN (Marks & Spencers in UK) where animals must graze pasture. Farmers in the Netherlands are paid premiums if their dairy cows graze pasture.Waitrose, UK supermarkets & Dairy Crest (Milk Processors) have introduced a scheme to reward dairy farmers who plant trees on 25% of their farms.
This independently monitored scheme measures habitat levels and species
numbers, as well as providing expert advice on enhancing wildlife habitat. The
results achieved have been exceptional with the average level of habitat over
25% of the total farm area. There have also been many successful species
improvements. Waitrose Wildcare Program
The aim is to
encourage farms to operate more efficiently whilst addressing consumer
requirements for quality and sustainability. The standards will require that
suppliers undertake a regular carbon footprint of their dairy operation. They
also expect farms to recognise their role as custodians, and consider potential
opportunities to enhance the countryside (e.g. via the planting of trees,
hedgerows, management of water resources and/or direct engagement with
environmental stewardship schemes).
There are some excellent NZ dairy farmers making a real
effort to protect the waterways by planting trees.
Old Carpet for weed control
It is important to protect young trees when you are planting on farms. We used old carpet...a local company would have paid to dump this waste material.....we got it delivered to the farm. Hopefully carpet waste materials will retain moisture & reduce weeds & the need for chemicals.
What do you think?
