It has been a quiet year for the Australian Agroforestry Foundation. Funding has been scarce but we remain committed to delivering Master TreeGrower (MTG) courses and extending the Peer Group Mentoring concept. Our first MTG was back in late 1996. There have since been 110 courses across Australia involving over 2000 landholders.
This year we did deliver an Australian MTG course in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. It was run by the SW Agroforestry Network and coordinated by Richard Moore. I attended the last two days and it was clearly a great success.
Internationally we are still involved in supporting MTG courses in Africa and Indonesia. Our partner, Beyond Subsistence, just completed a course in Ethiopia and we are still involved in the Australian Government supported research program (ACIAR) in Indonesia. I am also hopeful that we can build on our voluntary work in East Timor.
We are hopeful that the new round of Australian Government funding will recognize the contribution that the MTG and PGM can play in supporting farmer innovation and adoption of more sustainable land management practices.
Personally, the quiet year allowed Claire and I to have a holiday overseas for our 30th anniversary (of both our wedding and our farm). Although, as you would expect, I spent a lot of time looking at trees. This included inspecting forests, gardens and farms in the UK, Ireland, Iceland and the USA.
While I was away my new book was being printed. "Heartwood: The art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit" is a 300 page, full-colour, hardback about the joy and practice of growing trees on farms. It includes so many things I have learnt from the hundreds of tree growers I have been so fortunate to have met over the years. Thank you to all you tree growers and researchers for your support and advice over the years.
My aim with the book is to make the act of growing and harvesting trees for conservation, agriculture, timber, and other values attractive to the wider community. For those of you with land, I want to share our science, practice and enthusiasm for tree growing. I hope you like it.
If you purchase a book through the Australian Agroforestry Foundation online shop I will sign the book and package the order myself. I can also include a dedication if you wish (add details in the "comments/special instructions" section of your order)
The shop has other items including other books, moisture meters and tapes.
Thanks for your support and best wishes for the summer season. May there be no fires, hail storms or cyclones!
Regards
Rowan Reid
Managing Director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation
This year we did deliver an Australian MTG course in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. It was run by the SW Agroforestry Network and coordinated by Richard Moore. I attended the last two days and it was clearly a great success.
Internationally we are still involved in supporting MTG courses in Africa and Indonesia. Our partner, Beyond Subsistence, just completed a course in Ethiopia and we are still involved in the Australian Government supported research program (ACIAR) in Indonesia. I am also hopeful that we can build on our voluntary work in East Timor.
We are hopeful that the new round of Australian Government funding will recognize the contribution that the MTG and PGM can play in supporting farmer innovation and adoption of more sustainable land management practices.
Personally, the quiet year allowed Claire and I to have a holiday overseas for our 30th anniversary (of both our wedding and our farm). Although, as you would expect, I spent a lot of time looking at trees. This included inspecting forests, gardens and farms in the UK, Ireland, Iceland and the USA.
While I was away my new book was being printed. "Heartwood: The art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit" is a 300 page, full-colour, hardback about the joy and practice of growing trees on farms. It includes so many things I have learnt from the hundreds of tree growers I have been so fortunate to have met over the years. Thank you to all you tree growers and researchers for your support and advice over the years.
My aim with the book is to make the act of growing and harvesting trees for conservation, agriculture, timber, and other values attractive to the wider community. For those of you with land, I want to share our science, practice and enthusiasm for tree growing. I hope you like it.
If you purchase a book through the Australian Agroforestry Foundation online shop I will sign the book and package the order myself. I can also include a dedication if you wish (add details in the "comments/special instructions" section of your order)
The shop has other items including other books, moisture meters and tapes.
Thanks for your support and best wishes for the summer season. May there be no fires, hail storms or cyclones!
Regards
Rowan Reid
Managing Director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation
