Cattle, Timber and Pasture: Could Silvopasture Build Drought Resilience?

Gulf Savannah NRM is partnering with the North Queensland Forestry Hub to explore perceptions and adoption of silvopasture — a system that combines commercial tree growing and livestock production — as a strategy for drought resilience in the Northern Gulf.

Drought Resilience Coordinator Kasmin Brotherton said silvopastoral systems also offer benefits such as alternative animal feed sources and income diversification for farms.

‘Silvopasture integrates trees and pasture into a single sustainable system for raising livestock. During the project we will be finding out about the opportunities this approach may present to graziers in the Gulf, including developing a new income stream.

‘Using trees to mitigate against the impacts of climate extremes and drought would also be a win-win situation as we’d be sequestering carbon while supporting the grazing industry — the backbone of the region’s economy,’ she said.

There is a free webinar to learn more about silvopasture at 12noon Wednesday 1 May — watch below.

‘We’re also encouraging graziers, landholders and other stakeholders to complete our survey to help inform the project and gather information about silvopastoral systems being set up in the region,’ Ms Brotherton said.

The survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/silvopastoral.

Contact Kasmin Brotherton for more information on the project, or if you would like your property to be included on the itinerary of a regional tour being conducted with forestry experts in May — email kasmin.brotherton@gulfsavannahnrm.org.

This project is supported by TNQ Drought Hub, through its Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience grants scheme.

Scroll to Top