Forestry-cattle combo adds up
As pressure to offset agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions grows, one farmer is looking to the past to tackle today’s carbon capture crisis.
Regenerative farming is a notso-new trend growing in popularity and Greg Hart says it offers huge promise in New Zealand.
Under the umbrella of regenerative agriculture lies silvopasture, a form of agroforestry which could give direction to farmers weighing up how and where to plant trees.
Hawke’s Bay farmers Greg and Rachel Hart have been regenerative farming for 15 years at Mangarara Station in Elsthorpe.
The couple have been on the 610-hectare property for 23 years.
Greg Hart says silvopasture, the modern adaptation of an ancient farming system of grazing stock in forests, is good for animals, great for the environment and offers better returns than livestock alone.
It is a practice he says should not be overlooked in favour of an all-or-nothing approach.
‘‘Nature is about diversity, I think we can incorporate trees into a landscape while maintaining our pastoral agricultural production.’’
Mangarara is a productive sheep and beef farm, with pigs and hens adding to biodiversity.
It has lakes, wetlands, peat flats, rolling and steep hills, pasture, and native and exotic trees.
Greg Hart says if more farmers were aware of the potential of silvopasture, it might be readily picked up, especially if you can show it is not detrimental to their farming. ‘‘There is a lot of the country that is currently being farmed and potentially disappearing under pine trees now that could be space-planted in trees and still maintain a pastoral animal production system underneath the trees.’’
With pastoral farm sales for forestry conversion on the rise, and debate around how to mitigate agriculture’s carbon emissions, it is possible to achieve enough canopy cover to trade carbon credits without compromising productivity, he says.
‘‘You could continue to farm without losing virtually any production but achieving at least that 30 per cent canopy cover and be generating probably more money from carbon than you would be from the animals.’’
Based on the New Zealand ETS unit value of about $25 per tonne, if a farmer was to plant up to 30 per cent canopy cover, using poplars and willows, from year five to 10 those trees would earn $950 per hectare a year, he says.
‘‘Most farms would be lucky to be making half that off just animals alone. So you would be more than doubling your income per hectare by including trees into the landscape and not excluding the animals.’’
The benefits extend beyond financial gain by building in resilience and improving animal welfare by providing shade and shelter, ‘‘and potentially a bit of drought fodder and adding to the biodiversity of your land and stopping erosion’’.
While silvopasture balances the impact of livestock and increases carbon sequestration, the cost can be a challenge. Hart says some costs can be offset with funding available via councils.
At Mangarara, the Harts have planted thousands of natives and several other types, including production timber lots, and have recently planted about 2000 oak trees. Their aim is to find trees that will survive Hawke’s Bay’s climate and add biodiversity.
‘‘Hopefully the acorns will fall and we will be able to fatten some pigs underneath the trees.
‘‘We take a permaculture approach where things are done for multiple purposes.’’
The Harts have planted through partnerships. They have used crowdfunding, have had the help of volunteers and support from the Air NZ Environment Trust and the Million Metre Streams Project.
Greg Hart says it takes planning but there are ‘‘a lot of wise old heads around that have been doing it for years’’. The Farm Forestry Association was also an invaluable resource.
Native trees were expensive and took management. They are slower growing and animals have to be excluded from areas while the natives were young.
‘‘We have learnt some lessons, and we have made some mistakes,’’ he says.
With some of their planting, where they wanted to achieve a park-like silvopasture approach, Hart says they may do things differently in future.
‘‘We will perhaps be planting in rows and putting an electric wire along to protect the trees just to keep the stock off them while they grow.’’
At Mangarara, the Harts run a lodge that can sleep up to 17 people and they have day visitors too. They provide a learning experience about where and how food is produced and use the farm’s resources to build community.
Mangarara’s approach is a big drawcard. ‘‘We have started keeping a record of how many people visit the farm and we had 200 visit in July, so there is a lot of people coming and going.’’