Western Farm Trees

Western Farm Trees is an aggregated environmental planting project dispersed across the Western Australian Wheatbelt, with sites ranging from Perenjori in the Mid West to Gnowangerup in the Great Southern region. Registered in May 2015, the project covers a total area of approximately 1,668 hectares. Rather than a single contiguous forest, the project operates on a "hub" or aggregation model, allowing multiple landholders across different local government areas, including Coorow, Koorda, and Mount Marshall, to pool their land for carbon sequestration while continuing traditional farming on adjacent paddocks.

The project operates under the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings (FullCAM) methodology. This method requires the establishment of permanent plantings of native tree species (either mixed species or mallee eucalypts) on land that has been clear of forest cover for at least five years prior to the project's commencement. A key requirement of this methodology is achieving specific stocking densities and canopy cover potentials sufficient to meet the definition of "forest" (usually 20% crown cover and 2 meters in height), modeled using the FullCAM software to calculate carbon abatement.

Environmentally, the project sites are situated in a semi-arid to Mediterranean climate zone, characterized by winter-dominant rainfall (typically 300mm to 500mm annually) and hot, dry summers. The region is the heart of Western Australia's grain belt, where land use is dominated by broadacre cropping (wheat, canola, barley) and sheep grazing. The soils in these areas are varied but often consist of sandy loams, duplex soils, and gravels, with some project areas likely targeting marginal or salt-affected land to restore biodiversity and soil health.

An interesting aspect of this project is its administrative history; it was originally initiated by CarbonQuest Australia but was transferred to Corporate Carbon Solutions in 2016 to ensure long-term viability. It serves as a prominent case study for the "aggregation" model, which reduces barriers to entry for individual farmers. To date, the project has successfully issued over 35,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).