The Northeast NSW Regional Forestry Hub is a key exhibitor running a wide-ranging series of discussions and panels to showcase the benefits of forestry, farm forestry and forest management, including the use of residues for biochar and bioenergy.
Nick Cameron, Hub Manager, said it was incredibly important to provide information transfer for landholders who might take a greater interest in the value of managing their forests on-farm and the options open to them to maximise the benefits. “Tocal Field Days has, for the time, seen the forestry and biochar sectors join forces under a single big marquee roof. Eight organisations were represented, including Forestry Corporation, the North East NSW Forestry Hub, the Australian New Zealand Biochar Association, Newells Creek Logging, Metamorf, MS2, Catalyst Env Mgt, SETA, and One Track,” he said.
“Day one saw a wealth of educational information conveyed through a sustainable forestry, bioproducts and regional innovation forum. The school students who visited in numbers went away happy with heaps of free giveaways. Young kids were able to climb on board Forestry’s new $500K state of the art firetruck and see a fully loaded log truck up close. The show and tell will continue over the weekend with lots more talks planned from leading experts, as well as hundreds of eucalypt seedlings still to be given away.”
According to Cameron, the Hub undertakes projects that directly improve forest management and open opportunities for landholders to participate and receive practical information they can use on the farm.
New forestry equipment for pyrolysis and a circular economy in forestry to eliminate waste and transform it into useful products will be canvassed. Tocal Field Days attract huge crowds from the Hunter region and beyond and will operate on Saturday, 2 May and Sunday, 3 May.
