The OMA has developed a series of steps that it recommends using when establishing a mallee planting. These practices are under constant review and will be updated from time to time. The Code of Practice in broad terms, summarises the desired standards for key industry players such as nurseries, contractors and growers and describes the practices of the industry to others including local government, transport contractors, regulators and industry. The code of practice will be reviewed and upgraded to include all stages of the oil mallee industry value chain. This will include addressing requirements for processing, renewable energy legislation, guidelines for carbon sinks and other government regulation.
Mallee is the common name given to a multi-stemmed tree.
They characteristically have many stems shooting out from an underground root mass just below the soil surface, known as the lignotuber or "mallee root" (a prized source of firewood). The lignotuber is an underground stem and believed to be an adaptation to fire. During fire or harvest, the above ground mallee stems are lost, but the starch rich lignotuber remains intact underground. The Mallee is able to sprout back from buds on the surface of the lignotuber, enabling the tree to survive. This process is known as coppicing. Oil Mallees have the potential to generate tree crop revenue every 4-5 years once established. Moisture supplies mainly determine Mallee biomass yield and frequency of harvest. Eastern States experience indicates mallees may be harvested regularly for 100 years or more with no negative effects. In fact, as the lignotuber gets bigger, the coppice could be more robust and frequency of harvest could increase.
Over many years there have been critical examinations of mallees in the farming system. The JVAP (Joint Venture Agroforestry Program) Research in Progress - Joint Venture Agroforestry Program 2008-09 published by its managing agent the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) contained an analysis which compared cropping programs with and without mallees.
Subsequently this task was been taken up by the Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FFI CRC) and ongoing work is progressing with the intention of producing easily available tools for use by farmers. The FFI CRC publication "Woody Tree Crops" contains a summary of this evaluation.
