#39 The nuances of farm forestry and the opportunities of integrating biodiversity with Campbell Mercer

Campbell Mercer owns 40ha outside Melbourne, Australia where he has set up a world class olive farm - producing award winning organic olive oil. Campbell uses a variety of fascinating agroforestry practices, from windbreaks to farm forestry and silvopastural systems. We have an in-depth conversation on small scale farm forestry, from design considerations to harvest and selling. We also discussed the Keyline cultivation pattern and its implications for tree planting, finishing off with the various functions of his windbreaks and their interaction with neighbouring olive trees. Overall, Campbell has not been shy to make use of tree systems to align his production with the ecology he works in. He has managed to harness the ecosystem services provided by trees whilst ensuring they remain economically productive. TABLE OF CONTENTS 02:42 Story and context of the farm 11:09 Why go organic? 13:28 Use of black wattle 19:52 Selling small quantities of timber 23:16 Main objectives of agroforestry on the farm 27:56 Design of the systems 39:04 Sawing material 40:56 Drying the wood 43:37 Pruning 46:35 Profitability of timber plantations 57:22 Interactions between grass and trees 01:01:24 Planting along the keyline pattern 01:05:17 Feedback on deep ripping and swales 01:10:46 Would you do keyline again? 01:19:41 Windbreaks 01:28:34 Choice of species in windbreak 01:38:17 Production from them 01:40:28 Interactions between windbreak and olive trees 01:45:00 Improved overall productivity • RESOURCES • GET IN TOUCH • SUPPORT US •

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#39 The nuances of farm forestry and the opportunities of integrating biodiversity with Campbell Mercer is an episode from The Regenerative Agroforestry Podcast by Dimitri Tsitos & Etienne Compagnon.

This episode is 1:46:54 long.

This episode was published on May 3, 2022.

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