Rowan Reid

Agroforestry Pioneer – Melbourne and Victoria, Australia 

Founder and owner of Bambra Agroforestry Farm, (essentially a 42-hectare outdoor classroom for scientists, students and farmers alike) in the Otway Ranges of Australia. Rowan refers to this project as having created his own “living laboratory for learning.” Established over 20 years ago, the Farm has hosted over 10,000 visitors from all walks. He is also a co-founder of the Otway Agroforestry Network, one of Australia’s most prominent and successful LandCare organizations. His conviction is that conservation and production are compatible and complementary, rather than contradictory. For this, Rowan is an internationally acclaimed and recognized leader in agroforestry, as well as in farmer education and extension.

Reid’s passion for trees began as a child in the coastal eucalyptus forests of southern Victoria and has led to a life teaching and working with farmers around the world. A Senior Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Melbourne for 20 years, Rowan continues his academic teaching and research, applying it to his work as the Managing Director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation.

In the year 2001 Rowan Reid was awarded the “Eureka Prize in Environmental Education,” primarily for his work establishing the “Master TreeGrowers” program (MTG) at home, where he currently resides and functions as an educator and “consultant.” Today over 2,000 landholders across Australia have completed the Farm’s 8-day MTG course, many of whom are now national leaders in multipurpose tree growing. Rowan has since chosen the continue down his own path, to become a “forester among farmers.”

Reid’s book, Heartwood, is a heartfelt story by one of the pioneers of blending forestry and farming in Australia over the last 30 years. His story is told through chapters focused on tree species planted on his farm at Bambra in the Otway Ranges of Victoria. While this is a personal story focused at Bambra, Reid draws on his decades of experience teaching forestry at Melbourne University. Each story is complemented by brief but informative science and practice pieces that provide the reader with knowledge to help shape their own tree growing journey. 

Websites: 1) Bambra Farm
2) Otway Agroforestry Network
3) Australian Agroforestry Foundation

Books/Publications: Heartwood, and has written or co-authored eight other titles, such as Agroforestry in Australia and New Zealand

Video: A Different Vision