Bridgetown-Greenbush es Friends of the Forest group president Jim Frith said it was possible to produce all the commercial timber needs on farmland which has already been cleared.

“We can do it simply by agroforestry,” he said.

Mr Frith said there were three million hectares of cleared, pastured farmland in the 600-1000mm rainfall belt on which trees could be grown in two row belts.

“In plantations, outside trees grow at twice the rate,” he said.

“So if you have two row belts, the whole lot will grow at twice the rate of a plantation tree.”

According to the group’s plan, the tree belts would provide a 15 percent cover of the farmland, with the rest to remain as crop and pasture. Mr Frith said the distance between the belts would depend on the area’s rainfall.

Belts in high rainfall areas would be 30 metres apart and belts in low rainfall areas could be as much as 100 metres apart.

“What the trees are doing is using water the annual crops and pasture are not, and that is why they grow so fast,” Mr Frith said.

“If all that land were agroforested, you could produce what the commercial timber industry needed.

“It gives the farmers a return and saves us from having to clear native forest to provide timber.”

Mr Frith said the group’s plan was based on published research by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environment and Conservation.