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Non-timber products
There are many alternative tree products
that offer potentially significant development, growing and
marketing opportunities for Australian forest farmers. Some
products, like honey, have large and established markets while
for others the markets are small and specialised. Identifying
and developing new product markets may be possible at the
local level and could be done by farm foresters alone or in
small groups. In other cases, large scale research and development
projects will be required to refine processing technologies
and access international markets. The Federal Government,
through the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation,
is funding research and development into emerging non-timber
product options including pharmaceuticals, oils and other
forest products where it is felt that there are prospects
for the development of large scale plantings, particularly
in low rainfall areas.
New opportunities may also arise from traditional products.
For example, although farmers are rarely paid at present for
accepting hives on their land this may soon change as apiarists
are forced to pay higher fees for access to public native
forests or are totally excluded because of the potentially
harmful effect of introduced bees on native insects. Some
growers are establishing large areas of high quality honey
flora in anticipation of being able to sell the nectar and
pollen.
Forests may also provide an ideal environment for the production
of valuable understorey plants. Some forest owners make additional
income from collecting and selling plants that grow naturally
in their dense forests such as ferns or epiphytes. Fern farming
is well established in some high rainfall areas and is often
an ideal complement to timber production. There is also a
small ornamental market for moss covered logs and lichens.
Bush tucker
Industrial
products
Eucalyptus
oil
Tree
seed and propagation material
Nut trees
Christmas
trees
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