FAQ’S

We are so glad you asked!

Forestry managed investment schemes left a bitter taste in the mouth of many investors and may have given you a skewed impression of farm forestry.

The tax breaks available to the general public back in the early 2000’s have since been restructured. It was those incentives which resulted in overwhelming investment in sectors such as short rotation forestry, almonds and olives, distorting markets and land prices. The resulting collapse of some companies saw many investors lose significant funds and was damaging to the forestry industry.

Decision Tree is very different. Rather than being driven by a corporate structure seeking investment funds, the collaborative approach uses a vertically integrated model, which ensures any tree planted has a guaranteed market when it reaches maturity. The driving force behind Decision Tree is to meet the ever-increasing domestic demand for timber.

Different options are available depending on which style of farm forestry is suitable for the individual agribusiness.

You can read more about current forestry tax incentives for true primary producers HERE.

We like the way you think!

It is almost certain that new plantations of trees planted on cleared land will be eligible for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU’s). Changing from short rotation tree crops like blue gum to long rotation crops like pine are also eligible.

Registering a new carbon project can be time consuming and expensive, but there are companies that can help, in exchange for a share of future carbon credit sales.

Decision Tree participants can access the carbon market at no cost. Because the processors who are standing behind Decision Tree have a primary interest in secure future wood supplies, they are offering to register, manage and market carbon as a service to tree growers.

If you would like more information on how carbon credit systems work with trees, click HERE.

That question makes us a bit sad, because not all of Australia is suitable for growing trees.

Radiata pine performs best when the rainfall is above 500mm. It can survive in rainfall down to around 450mm, but it needs to be a site with deeper soils and mid to lower slopes.

Unfortunately, lower rainfall usually occurs with increasing distance from markets, so growers are doubly hit – first with lower growth and secondly with increased costs of getting products to market. This makes the economics increasingly unattractive.

A good way to test if your property is suitable, is by using the Decision Tree calculator found HERE.

We are sorry to hear that!

The good news is that with Decision Tree, supply agreements with processors require them to come and thin your trees on time and if the costs of the thinning operation exceed the revenues, then the processor will meet the shortfall.

So as a grower, you know that your trees will be on the optimal growth trajectory for the site. The processors benefit too, because if forests are unthinned, growth is stagnant and not growing sawlogs that industry needs to meet domestic sawn timber demand.

This might just be our favourite question so far!

Once pine trees reach over 1.5 metres tall, which takes about two years, grazing is positively encouraged.

It helps to reduce the competition for water, which helps the trees grow and it reduces the amount of potential fuel in the unlikely event of a fire.

You can read more about the benefits of trees to your existing farming enterprise HERE.

Well that is a burning question indeed!

In all seriousness, all of the organisations standing behind the Decision Tree initiative are invested in fire response.

We have an industry cooperative which means all signatories pledge to come to each others mutual aid should fire occur.

All members of that cooperative maintain fleets of fit-for-purpose firefighting vehicles and heavy mobile plant such as front-end loaders which are deployed to fires.

Industry has agreements with State Government fire response agencies that allow proactive firefighting to occur on private property, to get to fires while they are small, before they impact plantations.

You can read more about fire mitigation HERE