Western Australian Forestry Minister Kim Chance says up to 250,000 hectares of trees could be planted under an initiative to encourage farmers to grow plantation timber. The plan, announced by Premier Geoff Gallop, will offer financial incentives from as little as $75 up to $1,200 a hectare for farmers from Moora to Esperance to plant trees. Dr Gallop says it will put money in farmers' pockets, and will help reduce salinity and wind and water erosion. Mr Chance is confident the project will be taken up by many farmers, and he believes up to 250 million hectares of plantation timber could be grown. "Now, if I'm correct in that [hypothesis] that would be an immense contribution to both agriculture forestry and the environment in Western Austraila," he said. But there has been a luke warm response from the WA Farmers Federation. Spokesman Gary English says targeting low rainfall areas may not be so economically viable. "You're competing with forestry elsewhere and high rainfall areas and where they've already got the infrastructure and things to back it up, and that's where it's very difficult to make the tree proposal stand alone on it's own," he said.