Back in 2000, Alison Campbell began her Seed Production Area (SPA) through funding made available by the Greening Australia movement with the aim of guaranteeing a supply of local indigenous species. Having a reliable supply of these seeds means that direct seeding can be carried out as a way of placing large numbers of trees in the ground quickly as opposed to hand planting of seedlings. Large areas undergoing revegetation now use this method.
Alison’s SPA contains 12 varieties of trees and shrubs with approximately 230 of each variety. These are planted in rows as in an orchard, thus enabling her to walk along and collect the seeds. The plants chosen are sourced locally and therefore the trees of the area. Alison specialises in understorey trees, such a wattles, hakea and hot bush.
When summer arrives, she manually harvests the seeds using just her hands and a bucket, so making it an extremely labour intensive task.
“While husband Peter is out harvesting tonnes of grain, I am walking around harvesting grams of seeds, “says Alison. The seeds are either sold in pods or they are sieved during January and sold as clean seeds. Alison stores the seeds in foam boxes to keep them cool before selling them off. Most go to the Murray Catchment Management Authority’s (MCMA) seed bank in Berrigan, but she does have some private clients who sell on to nurseries or possibly export them overseas. Those sold to the M.C.M.A. are used for direct seeding projects throughout the country
The M.C.M.A. also collects seed from roadsides and last year collected 1 tonne in this manner - an unprecedented amount. However, because of the drought, roadside areas are becoming not as productive and therefore SPA’s are becoming more important for the security of seed supplies for revegetation.
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