Tree Farming

Tree farming, or plantation forestry, is a system of cultivated forests established by planting or seeding in the process of afforestation (converting bare or fallow land into forests) and reforestation (planting once forested land with trees or other woody plants). Tree farms are established for several reasons, for example, to produce wood biomass, especially where natural timber stands are depleted; to meet the demand for high-quality species (e.g., mahogany, cedar); to develop export markets; to conserve or restore soil and water; to protect biodiversity; and to supply potential markets for carbon sequestration. While tree farms provide numerous benefits, critics note a number of ecological and socioeconomic defects; these are summarized below.

While tree farms existed throughout the world for centuries, their incidence increased dramatically in the mid 20th century. This is largely due to the expansion of commercial timber harvesting, the growing strategic importance of the pulp and paper industry, and the depletion of merchantable natural timber stands. Tree farms are relatively inexpensive to implement and maintain, produce cash crops in greater volumes and shorter periods of time than natural forests, require little infrastructural investment, and can provide jobs in underdeveloped regions. Tree farms are intensively managed, which simplifies production and reduces silviculture and harvesting costs as well as loss of time and resources due to inclement natural phenomena. According to Roger Clapp, the shift from natural to plantation-based systems of forestry is conceptually equivalent to the agricultural revolution. Most large-scale tree farms rely on species that grow rapidly and are resistant to drought. The most common are pine, which mature in between 15 and 30 yrs. (years), and eucalyptus, which mature in as few as 7 yrs. (see photo). Acacia is also commercially grown in southeast Asia.

The inception of large-scale plantation forests occurred in the 1960s, primarily on easily accessible fallow agricultural lands in Spain, Portugal, the southeastern United States, and the Canadian province of Ontario's St. Lawrence Valley. The Weyerhaeuser Corporation also [Page 2881]played a leading role in developing successful tree farms in the northwestern United States during this era. Brazil and Chile developed large-scale plantations in the 1980s that demonstrated the economic viability of commercial tree farming. Many of South America's first large-scale tree farms were established by Japanese pulp and paper firms in response to elevated North American fiber prices and the depletion of timber stocks in and the ensuing ban on log exports from southeast Asian countries. More recently, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, India, Russia, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand have developed large-scale plantations. According to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, commercial tree farms account for roughly one half of the global total while nonindustrial plantations and unspecified plantations each account for approximately one quarter of the global total. Four countries house more than 60% of the world's tree farms: China, India, Russia, and the United States.

Casuarinas growing in dunes, Zululand, South Africa. Casuarinas are planted in coastal sand dunes for the stability they provide to the ground and for their timber.

Source: (c) Anthony Bannister; Gallo Images/Corbis.

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