Does the highlander ironwood drop enough iron to be worth crafting and planting and growing one? (this is NOT the twilight forest ironwood.) Or should I just use Magical Crops with RotaryCraft sprinklers for super iron ore production?
Having used Highlands, I advise you to go with the farm idea. Highlands is not that compatible with some mods, and I wouldn't think it would be the best idea to create farms using the mod.
Then again, I wouldn't advise using trees at all instead of proper farms, except for Dye Trees - that mod is really awesome!