Planting masses of trees on-farm could be the key to producing biofuels while fighting climate change, according to a leading agriculture and ecology researcher.
A research fellow at Charles Sturt University, Barney Foran, is proposing farmers use up to 30pc of their land for forestry plantations to provide “fuel security” for the future.
Mr Foran suggested the scheme at the Australian Forest Growers’ annual conference in Albury this week.
He said that if one million hectares of forestry a year were planted, four billion tonnes of greenhouse emissions could be removed.
“If we grow wood to make bioalcohol and methanol, we can make ample substitute for diesel fuel,” he said.
The idea is not to take land away from livestock production or cereal growth, and it would be limited to no more than 10pc of cropping, planted pasture and rough land categories.
Extract from story in The Land, NSW, October 23