Western Farm Trees

Western Farm Trees is a dispersed environmental planting project located across multiple properties in the Western Australian Wheatbelt. Instead of a single contiguous block, the project operates as an aggregation with sites spanning approximately 500 kilometers from the Northern Agricultural Region near Perenjori and Morawa, down through the central Wheatbelt near Koorda, to the Great Southern region near Jerramungup and Gnowangerup. Registered in May 2015, the project covers a total area of approximately 1,668 hectares.

The project operates under the "Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings" methodology, which involves establishing permanent native tree cover on land previously cleared for agricultural use, such as cropping or grazing, for at least five years. This specific project utilizes the FullCAM model to calculate carbon sequestration. Key activities include the strategic planting of native mixed species and mallee eucalypts, vegetation well-suited to the region's dry conditions, at densities estimated between 400 and 3,000 stems per hectare. The plantings are designed to be permanent and are not intended for harvest.

The Western Australian Wheatbelt is a region historically dominated by broadacre farming, specifically wheat production and sheep grazing. The environment is characterized by a semi-arid to Mediterranean climate with winter-dominant rainfall ranging from 300mm in the northern sites to approximately 500mm in the southern reaches. The soil profiles are typical of ancient, deeply weathered landscapes, consisting largely of sandy loams, ironstone gravels, and "duplex" soils (sand over clay), which are often susceptible to salinity and erosion, issues that reforestation projects like this help mitigate.

An interesting aspect of this project is its corporate history, which highlights the consolidation of the early carbon market. Originally developed by CarbonQuest Australia, the project management was transferred to Corporate Carbon Solutions in 2016 after the original proponent sought a partner with greater long-term capacity. The project has since been cited in industry reports, such as those by the Carbon Market Institute and NAB, as a case study for aggregated carbon farming and the integration of environmental plantings with active agricultural operations.