Building Regenerative Timber Relationships

Grant Amount: $50,000

Region: National

Delivered by: CERES Fair Wood

Year funded: 2023

Project status: In progress

The Challenge

We’re running out of timber! As logging exits depleted native forests we are importing timber cut from native forests of South East Asia, Northern Russia and South America. We know we need to grow more timber on our farms and in plantations, but we also need to manage our native and urban forests differently.

The Innovation

Since its launch four years ago, CERES Fair Wood has ethically sourced farm forested timber for the building industry and trialed urban sawmilling in Melbourne.

Two prospective streams of timber are under development by the CERES Fair Wood.

• In Nhulunbuy (NT), Cape York (QLD), Aurukun (QLD), Daylesford (VIC) and  Yarram (VIC) Indigenous communities are establishing eco-forestry and salvage sawmilling operations to manage land and create employment.
• Meanwhile, in cities, there is a growing appreciation of urban forestry's potential as a timber source.

Sustainable Table is funding CERES Fair Wood to build lasting and fair business relationships in these emerging forestry sectors to enable the further development of products, reliable supply chain logistics and markets to sell into.

Why did Sustainable Table fund this project?

We must rethink timber sourcing to contribute to land and community regeneration. Agro-forestry practices on farms offer numerous benefits including biodiversity enhancement, carbon sequestration, and increased productivity. However, establishing robust market channels is essential. This project aims to bridge these gaps, starting with strong partnerships with Indigenous-owned enterprises to prioritise Indigenous interests and develop sustainable timber supply chains.

Years in the making, this initiative, led by the passionate team at CERES, has garnered support from State governments and private industry. Now, it's ready for implementation.

What were the outcomes of this project?

Sustainable Table has supported CERES to develop the Urban Forestry Service into a fully fledged social enterprise. Hiring an inhouse sawmiller CERES Urban Forestry has begun onsite sawmilling and is in negotiations with contractors on the M80 Ring Road Extension, Level Crossing Removals and another major road project to deliver commercial scale log salvage and sawmilling that will return timber back to the projects to be used in building and landscaping works.

In doing so the service will help divert urban trees out of the green waste stream and into permanent buildings and infrastructure reducing carbon emissions and providing a unique end-to-end service that assists land managers to achieve circular economy, social and environmental goals.

Please consider donating today to help us support more projects like this and regenerate Australian food and farming.