A 17-year project undertaken by John and Nicole Hopkins on their property Allawah, near Illabo, was in the spotlight this week.
Junee Landcare and Murrumbidgee Landcare and Sustainable Farms, an ANU initiative, hosted a field trip to look at the agricultural and biodiversity benefits of shelter belts at the property.
The farm visit gave the opportunity for participants to see first-hand the connectivity between the science and what’s actually happening out in the paddock.
Research, knowledge and on-farm experience was shared by a high calibre team including John Broster from the CSU Graham Centre, together with Dan Florance and Mason Crane from Sustainable Farms, was enthusiastically embraced
Mr Broster shared findings from his longitudinal research on the production benefits of shelter belts at lambing time.
“To get the full potential of a shelterbelt it must have full coverage of the area with no tunnels through it. When there is shelter from ground level right through to the full height, shelterbelts can give shelter up to 20 times their height,” he said.
Michael Gooden, chair of Murrumbidgee Landcare, said: “From a field day like today people will go back on to their own property and see their landscape a little bit differently. As a result, I hope landholders will tie what they do back into the natural capacity of the land and really get the benefit out of having biodiversity on their farm and translating that into production benefits.”
- Junee Landcare Network will host a follow up field day in September. Contact 0429 458 717.
