BioResEd have been working with macadamia growers of mature orchards to implement systems for inter-row cover-cropping, dedicated insectaries and perennial native vegetation areas for ecosystem services as they rehabilitate their aging orchards.
Macadamia growers with mature orchards are managing well recognised impediments to productivity, profitability and sustainability associated with the average age and design of conventional orchard landscapes. Many orchards now have very large trees in excess of 40 years old, creating dark landscapes and declining biodiversity and soil health. Row removal and subsequent restoration of ground cover in these dark orchards is one way in which orchard sustainability can be rebuilt. At the same time, dedicated insectaries and on-farm perennial native vegetation areas are of increasing interest for growers where they can further stabilise, restore and conserve native biodiversity that improves crop pollination and crop pest suppression.
BioResEd has recently been documenting the practices of one exemplary mature macadamia farm to demonstrate the practice and benefits of orchard row removal, inter-row cover-cropping and perennial native vegetation areas in terms of biodiversity, soil health, and yield. For a detailed analysis of the cover crop and its effects on the arthropod community in this orchard, please read p.41-50 of the BioResources Inter Row Project Report, or click here for some brief highlights.
