Bambra Agroforestry Farm See trees for shelter, conservation & profit Grown by Rowan Reid

Bambra Agroforestry Farm in 1987 (above) and in 2001 (below). As Aldo Leopold once wrote: growing trees is like "writing a history on the landscape".

My family have been farming in Australia since the mid 1800’s. When I got my opportunity I wanted to see if I could make forestry attractive to the farming community. Bambra Agroforestry Farm is set up as an outdoor classroom for practical field days and workshops. More than 5000 people have visited the farm since we began planting trees in 1987. Our aim is not to 'demonstrate' how farmers should grow trees but to provide a place where they can explore the opportunities that agroforestry might provide them on their farm and practical knowledge on how they might achieve their own goals.

Furniture made from 16-yr-old Shining Gum harvested from the creekside planting Bambra

Tours and Workshops at Bambra Agroforestry Farm

The farm displays more than 45 commercial tree species, various planting arrangements and practical management options. Over the years we've run hundreds of tours, field days and workshops on the farm for farmer groups, government agencies, international tours, schools and more. We've even built a classroom in the old shearing shed with a kitchen other facilties. Most tours include a visit to the outstanding nearby property of Andrew and Jill Stewart (Yan Yan Gurt West) and other local examples. For information about upcoming field-days and workshops or to organise a custom tour for your group contact Rowan or keep an eye on our home page. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Photos from some of the many tours:

Where's Bambra?

Less than 2 hours drive south-west of Melbourne, Australia.   Look it up on Google Maps

	Download the Bambra Agroforestry Farm Tour Guide The 12-page full-colour guide takes you on a guided tour of the farm and provides technical information on a range of species and management options.  Large File Warning: 2.45M
	Video of Riparian Timber Harvest Watch a video of our harvest of 16-yr-old Shining Gum from the riparian planting along the creek. In 1987 our creek was bare and eroded (see above). The trees were planted for erosion control, biodiversity and shelter; managed for high quality timber; and selectively harvested for production. With good design and careful management there is no conflict between conservation and profit - in fact having one help the other. The video show the logs going to the mill where they were quatersawn. After kiln drying the timber was used in the furniture shown above. Youtube video: click on picture
	Video of Rowan using his logging winch YouTube Video: Click on Picture I now have a 5 ton Tajfun logging winch (from Europe). In this short video I use the winch to extract whole dead trees for firewood. The trees died from root rot and are dangerous to manually fall so this makes it simple, safe and fast. I also use the winch for safe directional falling of our sawlogs (more on that in the next video). For more on the winch go to Tajfun