Large areas of mallee were cleared for farming, starting in South Australia in the 1870s. Before the 1920s, a large part of the Tabbita-Hillston district of New South Wales was covered with thick mallee vegetation. It is now a prosperous wheat-farming region. Each year Australia sells millions of tonnes of wheat which comes from the Mallee. This wheat feeds people around the world and the money helps keep Australia's standard of living high.
Large machines take the place of many workers and allow farms to run with fewer people.
Clearing the Mallee means soil can be degraded by salinity or blown away by the wind. Conservation farming methods are now used to reduce the threats of sand drift, soil erosion and soil degradation. Governments are now realising the severity of mallee country environmental problems. Mallee species are still found in farm shelter belts. The clearing of mallee trees and other vegetation causes soil erosion.