The president of the Bamboo Society and owner of Cutloose Nursery, Moorland, Jim Mahoney, will be talking to farmers and gardeners about the value of bamboo and planting for the future at the Bellingen Youth Hub, on the evening of Friday, September 19.

Mr Mahoney, along with more than 40 farmers in the Taree to Kempsey district, has been farming bamboo on his property at Moorland for more than 10 years and he said the Bellingen Shire region had much to gain by joining this agricultural industry.

“Bellingen is a perfect region to grow bamboo for nursery supplies therefore more people could be taking advantage of this growing industry,” Mr Mahoney said

“There's little else that you can get into which would be economically viable on small acres other than bamboo so there's a huge market on the east coast because of all the subdivision and the small acres.” 

While the Bamboo Society of Australia is working on an industry for bamboo timber, Mr Mahoney said there's a shortage of plants and he’s hoping to capitalise on this by increasing his yield each year.

Founder of Bello Bamboo, Kirsten Daly said local interest has been rising and there’s much to be gained by listening to Mr Mahoney share his experience as well as learn about bamboo farming throughout Australia and the world. viable business venture. 

“People know it is faster growing and more sustainable than wood and other building materials”, Ms Daly said.

“We have been taking people to tours and workshops in Bali and Thailand to demonstrate the growing interest in bamboo as a contemporary building and interior design solution. 

“We already have a large supply of mature bamboo groves and it only takes seven years to have stands of bamboo ready to be harvested from for often 100 years – we are encouraging more farmers and small acreage owners to plant bamboo.”

Mr Mahoney will be speaking at a free presentation ‘Bamboo Economy’ as part of a two and a half day bamboo event, while Ms Daly will be co-facilitating a Sunday workshop on Bamboo Building. 

This weekend event is held by the Bamboo Society of Australia, in conjunction with Bello Bamboo, a local bamboo education and building business. Other activities over the weekend will cover practical learning about bamboo nursery propagation.

See bamboo.org.au for the full program.