The bioeconomic potential for agroforestry in northern cattle grazing systems: An evaluation of tree alley scenarios in central Queensland

Extensive land clearing for livestock production and associated land degradation has led to greater interest in the role of trees and revegetation practices such as agroforestry for achieving productivityand environmental outcomes in pastoral landscapes. RIRDC recently funded a national scale analysis (Polglase et al. 2008) of the potential to grow and profitably market wood products. Whilst there is now a growing understanding of the bio-economic interactions driving plantation hardwoods, there is little known about the economic outcomes of establishing complementary agroforestry and silvopastoralism in northern Australia’s lower rainfall zones (600-750 mm annual rainfall) including central Queensland. Silvopastoralism may offer landholders considerable advantages over traditional grazing systems in terms of income diversification, environmental benefits through increased woody vegetation cover andareas of stimulated versus constrained pasture growth. RIRDC commissioned this investigation to better understand whether an agro-forestry production system produces better financial and environmental outcomes than an extensive grazing system.