The Farm Forestry Toolbox is a collection of computer programs, referred to as 'Tools', intended to be used by farm forest owners and managers to aid decision making. The Toolbox includes a set of simple 'Hand Tools'; conversion of measurements and map co-ordinates; measuring the volume of stacked logs, slope, basal area; and a survey tool. A second set of more complex tools or 'Power Tools'; can be used to estimate site productivity (growth rate), volume and value of wood grown for individual trees, at the coupe or stand level and forest estate level.
Background
Farm Forestry is a term used in Australia to describe the use of private land to grow wood products and provide a number of other ecosystem services. Private land is land registered under Torrens title and leasehold land, usually leased from the government. Farm Forestry is defined as 'establishment and/or management of trees or forests on agricultural landscapes for commercial, aesthetic and/or environmental reasons. The term 'Farm Forestry', as used in Australia, encompasses Afforestation, Agroforestry, Analog forestry, Buffer strip, Plantation, Reforestation, Riparian-zone restoration, Silvopasture and Windbreak.
Support for Farm Forestry has been provided by both the Australian Government and State governments. In 2005 the Australian government released a Farm Forestry - National Action Statement.
In addition, governments have provided grants, funded research, provided advice (extension) and tax incentives to encourage landowners to adopt Farm Forestry.
Rationale
The 'Tools' were initially developed to make routine forest management tasks easier. For example, using the 'Stocking Tool' it is possible to calculate the number of trees required, given a row and in-row spacing, and the area to be planted.
The 'Health Tool' has a similar approach. A user can diagnose tree health problems using the Toolbox, replacing the need to use reference texts, or having to enlist the assistance of a forest health expert for the initial diagnosis.
Forest researchers have developed a number growth models, but these models are often difficult to access and use. The Toolbox was developed to ensure that growth models were available to farm forestry owners and managers, able to be used to inform decision making, and provide a link between the growth models outputs and financial modelling tools.
The 'Stand Manager' is more complex and can be used to calculate net present value, internal rate of return, and wood and product yields. This Tool is used to explore management scenarios, and the resultant financial return and wood yield. A user of the 'Stand Manager' is required to create log grade sets (log specifications), regimes (sequence of events over the life of the rotation detailing events, including timing and costs/returns), as input data. This Tool can also use the output from 'Site Productivity' and 'Inventory' tools.
Using the Toolbox Users can 'customise' the Toolbox by using the 'Editors' and/or manual input of key data, such as growth rate. This means the Toolbox can be used for any type of planted forest (windbreak or shelterbelt, agroforestry, woodlot, or plantation), and can be used for existing planted forest or an area being considered for planting. Financial management options can be explored by inputting user-defined wood yields where no suitable models are available.
Extensive user support is available for the Toolbox, with Manuals and Workbooks provided. In addition to 'On Screen Help', 'Help' panels are displayed in many Tools. The Toolbox includes in the 'Editors' sample Log Grade sets, Regimes and Biomass sets, that a user can modify.
The 'Video Help' is available on the YouTube channel Farm Forestry Toolbox. However, the updating of this facility was still a work in progress when the Project finished (see Toolbox Project Closure below).
Toolbox Tools Hand Tools Description Conversions Converts common standard units of measurement including area, length, volume, weight, and slope. Map-Coordinates Converts geographic and map grid coordinates on various datums. Works globally. Log Stack Volume Estimates volume and weight of an individual log or a stack of logs. Calculates and presents a statistical report for a stack of logs. Output can be saved and printed. Slope Calculates vertical, horizontal and slope length using angle units (degrees or percent). Wedge Calibration Calibrates angle gauge instruments used to measure basal area. Survey Calculates the map area, using bearings and distances, either from a traverse or by GPS. Able to annotate maps and print at different scales and import/export files to GIS. Allows an image (scanned aerial photo or map) to be added to the background of a map. Boundaries can then be over-drawn, and areas and distances estimated. Stocking A planting design tool which links to planting event(s) in the Regime editor. Calculates the number of trees per hectare using the distance between trees and between rows and allows grazing bays to be included in the design. Power Tools Description Site Productivity (for Plantations) Estimates, for selected species, growth over time using Site Quality Index (MDH - mean dominant height & Age) or AGGRO. AGGRO is a physiological model also used in Stand Manager. AGGRO is calibrated for E. globulus, E. nitens, and P. radiata. Site and climate data required. Toolbox provides default climate data for most Australian regions in which commercial plantations can be grown. Inventory Tool A tool that allows quality assessments of single trees or plots. Log grades to be specified and value specified by user. Output can be saved and printed. Able to estimate wood volume and log grades in a single tree, a plot of trees or the whole forest. The tool displays information graphically and has import and export data function. Taper models for species from Australia included. Stand Manager Uses costs and income (actual or predicted) to calculate returns over a rotation. Allows a user to test management options. Output can be saved and printed. Includes physiological growth model (AGGRO) with parameterisations for Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus nitens, and Pinus radiata. Empirical growth models for species planted in Australia. All scenario runs summarized in the Session Log, and scenario data can be recovered from both the Session Log. Users able to simulate an income stream from carbon credits with Carbon Inventory events. Other Tools Description Default Data Editor Used to define some system-wide default values. Log Grade Editor Used to define log grade specifications. Grades can be defined with preferred length and overcut allowance. Log assorts can be directed to maximise preferred product volumes, or total value. Regime Editor Used to construct a sequence of forest operations/events. Regimes for forest used for growing trees, or NPV & IRR used purely for financial analysis without forest growth and harvesting. Adding a Planting event to a 1st rotation automatically adds compulsory Financial Base and Clear-felling events. The Planting event facilitates complex planting designs and area exclusions. The Financial Base event sets the date to which future cost and revenues are discounted, and the interest rate to be used for NPV calculations. Event dates set to the day rather than the year and can be set as a date or age. Event costs can be set as a rate ($/ha), or a fixed cost. Biomass removal (roots, branches etc.) is dictated by the cutting event (thinning, clear-felling etc.) rather than the Stand Manager. Regimes apply to both Empirical and Process-based (physiological) models. Biomass Used to create and edit biomass sets used by Inventory and Stand Manager for modelling components of biomass. Models Used to select from available growth and tree-shape models in the Toolbox. Health Tool Description Health Keys A key to assist in the identification of health problems in plantation grown trees and other native forests in southern parts of Australia. The 'Health Tool' is an expert system for the major commercial eucalyptus plantation species used in southern Australia (Eucalyptus globulus & Eucalyptus nitens) and major commercial exotic pine species Pinus radiata.
Development
Dr Andy Warner, then an employee of Private Forests Tasmania (PFT), conceived the concept of the Farm Forestry Toolbox in 1996. He obtained funding support for, and managed, the development of versions 1 to 5. Originally the Toolbox was promoted as a User Friendly PC Tree Modelling Package (versions 1 and 2). Dr Warner also conducted training courses around Australia and overseas. Now living in Thailand, he continued to support the ongoing development and promotion of the Toolbox for wider use internationally, until he closed the Project in 2024 (see Toolbox Project Closure below).
Adrian Goodwin was initially an employee of Forestry Tasmania and subsequently the principal of his forest consultancy company, Bushlogic. As a gifted biometrician, he applied his unique talents of a disciplined statistical approach, coupled with a keen interest in practical applications of complex growth and yield models in tree-related applications, to develop most of the code and tools in the various versions of the Toolbox. He presented the Toolbox to forest growers, foresters and educators in Australia and overseas.
He continued to expand the functionality of the Toolbox package until his sudden death due to complications following minor surgery in 2023.
Toolbox Project Closure Despite extensive inquiries in Australia and internationally during 2023-2024, no feasible option was identified that could satisfactorily address transferring the licensing restrictions inherent in some of the built-in models nor replace Adrian's unique set of programming and forest modelling skills and his deep understanding of the complex code underpinning the Toolbox. Consequently, it was decided to close the Project in 2024, nearly 30 years after its inception. It is hoped that the success of the user-friendly approach of the Toolbox and its widespread practical use over three decades will provide some guidance for future user-friendly farm forestry applications - "Map, Measure, Manage" are vital components of any successful tree development project.
Toolbox distribution The Toolbox was originally provided free of charge via CD and later could be downloaded from the PFT or Bushlogic websites. However, these options are no longer available.
The Toolbox was included in the 2009 CSIRO publication Agroforestry for Natural Resource Management.
A Workshop - The Farm Forestry Toolbox - Australia's most versatile and widely used forestry software, was conducted as part of the 8th Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (ANZIF) Conference (2015).
The Toolbox Inventory tool was recognised in A Standard for Valuing Commercial Forests in Australia, as a suitable tool to undertake inventory for the purposes of the Standard.
Farm Forestry Toolbox version 5
In 2008, Toolbox was completely re-written in VB.NET 2005 implementing .NET Framework 2. This resulted in an improved user interface, and provided an opportunity to streamline code.
Version 5 of the Toolbox is sensitive to international currency and date formatting. It is possible to set defaults for anywhere in the world and select any currency. Help and instructions and on-screen labels and headings in almost any language can be displayed by populating appropriately named folders with translated .RTF files.