WA sandalwood finds its future in the Wheatbelt

Farm Weekly

Once known for turmoil, WA’s sandalwood industry is finding new life in the Wheatbelt, with Silvalis leading a sustainable revival rooted in heritage and growth.

Transcript

00:00You've got your Sackwood around and the heartwood inside.

00:04The only oil or fragrant part of the tree is this dark heartwood circle.

00:08The outside doesn't really smell as any sandwood at all.

00:11A lot of people grab these and smell them and they can't smell a lot

00:13because once you cut them after a day that initial fragrance is gone.

00:17As far as plantation goes, we do get a lot more of the whitewood

00:20because we have younger trees.

00:22You can imagine 100 year old trees out there

00:25have only got a very thin slice of that around the outside because they're so old.

00:29Wind, rain, sun.

00:31And it can take many, many years to actually deteriorate into nothing.

00:34So, dead trees can stand out there.

00:36They're all over the place in the desert.

00:38They're a bit more difficult to harvest

00:40because they don't get as much yield for an hour's work as they do the green trees.

00:44We manage 15,000 hectares of plantations

00:47and that allows us to leverage into the global markets.

00:51So for us, we're really moving out of that build phase

00:54in terms of a resource into that supply phase into the global market.

00:58And that is across those oil businesses, it's across those wood markets,

01:03it's across multiple countries.

01:05And that's exciting in itself and that's where the growth will be.

01:07And that's what race will be.

01:08...

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