Greenhouse gas and groundwater recharge abatement benefits of tree crops in southwestern Australian farming systems
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The indirect benefits of a commercial tree crop for greenhouse gas and groundwater
recharge abatement are analysed. Oil mallees are introduced into a whole-farm linear
programming model as a source of income, an offset to greenhouse gas emissions
from the mixed sheep and cropping enterprises and as a source of groundwater
recharge abatement. The profitability of oil mallees is found to be very sensitive to
the discount rate, yield and price assumptions and the relative profitability of other
farm enterprises (especially the wool enterprise). Under standard assumptions
where oil mallees are profitable, the trees significantly reduced greenhouse gas
emissions and groundwater recharge and the farm remains profitable. If farm-level
policies are introduced for greenhouse gas abatement, without tree crops or some
other technological change, the current farming systems would fail and be replaced
by alternative land uses.