11 WGCMA – Clinton Tepper Multi Storey Farming

CLINTON TEPPER

MULTI-STOREY FARMING

To make your way north out of Warragul takes you into the hills of the Baw Baw Ranges and towards Neerim South.

The paddocks are a vibrant green and even though the wind is blowing a chilly reminder that this is the middle of winter it’s not long before the ‘gee, this is pretty nice county’ idea pops into your head.

It’s in this area that a man who has worked and lived with trees most of his adult life is asking farmers to not only look across their paddocks but also to look down into the soils and most definitely to look up and imagine what might be there with a bit of thought and planning.

Clinton Tepper is an advocate of what he calls ‘Multi-Storey Farming.’

“Level one is the soil, from which everything else either thrives or fails,” says Clinton as we bounce around the rolling hills of his 110-acre property in his twin cab ute.

“Level two is the pasture – the feed for the livestock.

Level three is the trees, planted at such a ratio to allow movement of farm machinery to harvest hay or silage but also to provide shade and shelter for livestock and to aid soil health and sequester carbon as it grows.

Level four is the livestock that takes advantage of the three levels around it to grow as strong and healthy as it can,”

This approach to agriculture was developed following successive long dry spells which saw even this most rainy part of Gippsland loses its lustre, and the pastures turn from verdant green to a dryer, more straw like colour. In 2014 with the help of funding from the Australian Government through the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, Clinton planted a 1.2-hectare plot as a demonstration site with a range of trees and a selection of pastures.

In 2021 these trees are 15+ metres tall and the pasture, growing up to the trees so thick you can lose sight of your boots as you walk across.

“Initially we planted trees in rows five metres apart, with trees spaced 2 metres apart within the row. Over time we’ve thinned out every second row so that now there is more room for livestock to graze and pasture to grow.”

The trees are mostly eucalypts including Silvertop, Spotted Gum and initially Silver Wattle which has now been largely thinned out for firewood and onsite mulch.

The pastures were also assessed with 70 species planted over the initial 4 years to see which thrived and lent themselves to being an income stream when livestock was excluded from the site for 18 months to enable the trees to reach sufficient height to withstand cattle grazing. That number of pastures is now down to 10-15 varieties with lucerne being one of Clinton’s favourites.

“We sell the lucerne to local farmers…that’s a high-end product which means that after three years we were in the black financially on our biggest site with all costs covered. Subsequent years have generated good profit, plus grazing returns and wood growth. That multi storey farming site is now 6 years old.

CATTLE IN MULTI STOREY PADDOCK

It’s turned what was the worst paddock on the farm to the most profitable paddock on the farm”

As well as selling lucerne off farm, Clinton is managing the trees for firewood and high-end products suitable for home builders/renovators and furniture makers – further sources of income from this most diversified of farms.

“My target for log diameter 60-centimetres. At this size milling is more efficient and produces valuable products suited to the appearance grade and durable timber product sectors. That’s 10-15 years away at this stage but it will come online down the track.”

One could be forgiven for thinking that if it were simply as easy as just adding a few tress and profit magically follows that why we aren’t seeing this model of agriculture around the country?

Clinton says that while he is starting to see a few commercial farmers take up the idea, it is a more demanding way of farming, requiring more time from design right through to day-to-day management.

“It is a more complex system, which scares some people off. But should we be afraid of that complexity if we are able to produce more, potentially be more profitable, sequester carbon and be more diversified?

By saying we are going to crop around it we are going to graze around it, whilst the trees are still quite young. That’s something that some people can’t quite get their heads around…but other people are saying ‘Oh…I understand what he’s doing…I think I can use this on my property.” Of course, the ‘elephant in the room’ in any discussion around agriculture is the impact of climate change.

Clinton points to the results from the 2014 demonstration site as a source of optimism in terms of the sequestering of carbon and resilience of the pasture.

“We’ve had soil tests done on the other demonstration site and we can see the typical finding that we are getting more carbon lower down in the soil profile. So as the trees grow the carbon is improving in that 10-30cm layer and as they get older it starts to improve at the 30-100cm layer.

The science is proving it. We know we are sequestering more carbon in the soil, but then there is the above ground layer (wood) as well. Our pasture production isn’t being knocked around or declining because of this and the livestock, on those hot or windy days are getting shelter and not being as stressed.”

As the twin cab makes its way back to the Tepper family home and it is possible to see neighbouring properties dotted around the rolling landscape, I wonder whether in 20 or 30 years this whole area might look very different?

Whether it might be an area with more trees in the middle of paddocks and livestock grazing under them or whether the predominant monoculture will still be dominant?

Certainly, it’s hard not to be enthused and impressed by Clinton’s straight forward view that yes multi-storey farming is more complex. But why wouldn’t you want to embrace that challenge given the rewards it can offer?

FIELD DAY GROUP