08/09/2026
Congratulations Ivan Blacket
The next generation is here!
Trees and productivity are still treated as opposites. Ivan Blacket has spent years proving otherwise.
Meet Ivan Blacket from western Victoria, one of our 2027 Nuffield Scholars announced tonight in Darwin.
Ivan manages a 56 hectare property at Gherang with a nursery, sawmill, mixed timber plantations, silvopasture and conservation plantings, and owns his own agroforestry farm and sawmill.
His research, "Exploring the culture, innovation and products of intergenerational farm forestry communities", will look at the social, environmental and financial drivers behind agroforestry systems that have lasted generations. He will travel to New Zealand, the United States, Asia and across Europe.
Trees reduce evaporation and wind speed, improve soil and cycle water from deep in the profile. They also produce high value products. Ivan wants that recognised.
Supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Future Drought Fund
