The Victorian Government is supporting the establishment of plantations on farms, to expand and diversify the state’s timber resources and enhance farm productivity.

Program objectives

The program aims to support plantation growth on farms to expand and diversify Victoria’s timber resources, while generating other benefits such as:

• enhancing farm productivity
• diversifying income streams for landholders through the sale of timber and potentially carbon credits (or contribute to carbon offsets via other industry schemes or carbon in-setting)
• generating economic activity in regional communities.

As well as supporting the establishment of plantations in dedicated woodlots, the program encourages the integration of timber trees and agriculture in other ways, including within shelterbelts and in wide-spaced plantings, preferably guided by the landholder’s whole farm plan. Designed in this way, incorporating timber trees into the farming landscape can produce a broad range of economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits.

About the program

Grants are available for landowners to establish plantations on their properties.

Typical planting regimes are as follows, and landowners may choose to establish combinations and variations of these:

• Woodlots – small-scale plantations where production of timber is the primary objective, generally 5 to 20 hectares in size.
• Shelterbelts (or timberbelts) – strips of trees (often in combination with shrubs) strategically planted to shelter livestock, crops and pastures from the elements, as well as producing timber.
• Wide-spaced plantings – trees planted in rows or clumps, much further apart than typical woodlots, enabling effective grazing of livestock or growth of crops, as well as producing timber.

* Support is available within the grant structure to help the landowner clarify their objectives and determine the why, what, where and how of each planting.

Eligibility and guidelines

Grants are now available for plantation establishment in 2024–25.

Successful applicants will be awarded around 50% of the typical establishment and early management costs to establish a farm forestry plantation on their land.

Details about program eligibility can be found in the Gippsland Farm Forestry Program Guidelines 2024-2025.

If you believe the program fits with your objectives, you can apply using the Gippsland Farm Forestry Sites Grant Application Form 2024-2025.

Key dates

Applications open: 4 March 2024

Applications close: 7 March 2025

How to apply

Start a new application

Continue an existing application

Resources

Gippsland Farm Forestry Grant Program guidelines (PDF - 8.4 MB)

Gippsland Farm Forestry Grant Program guidelines - accessible (WORD - 220.8 KB)

Species information

Interested landowners can sign up for information and alerts by joining the Gippsland Farm Forestry Program mailing list or contact farmforestry@deeca.vic.gov.au