Change your thinking, consider a native shelter belt

We know that farmers care about their businesses and the livestock they manage. They care about the land on which they farm, both for its current income and sustainable future. And they care about how those factors combine to provide an income to support their family, community and environment.
 
Countless hours and dollars are given over to buffering the effects of weather on livestock and crops. It would therefore seem an obvious choice for farmers to develop assets on farm that reduce the effects of heat or cold on stock.
 
Sufficient shade and shelter for Australian livestock and pasture crops has been highlighted as a critical risk by all of the major Australian agricultural strategies produced in the past year.
 
But do land managers have the right information available to challenge their current methods of land management? Do they have the tools to help them understand, calculate and decide how to reintroduce shade and shelter built from native species in a manner beneficial to both farm and ecosystem?
 
Land managers across Australia have been provided free access to a short report which collates knowledge and experience gathered by both researchers and the agricultural industry that debunks the notion that planting shade and shelter is a loss of productive land.
 
The Economic Benefits of Native Shelter Belts Report (EBONS) Issue 3 / 2015 was produced for The Basalt to Bay Landcare Network to provide the agricultural industry and individual land managers with an educational resource that could potentially bring about changes in thinking and practice.
 
To download your copy of the EBONS report click here.