Many New Zealand farms are already dotted with significant stands of exotics and natives, and it doesn’t take too much more work to ensure those trees meet the requirements needed to earn carbon credits.
All landowners want to maximise the returns from each hectare of land they manage and if they can do it through planting trees or manuka, it diversifies their business.
But it’s still far more enticing to grow pine and some farmers want a rethink on how natives are treated under the regulations.
While they may sequester less carbon, they play other vital roles in a biodiverse environment.
It seems it’s time to give the home team a fair deal.
Bryan Gibson
UK trade talks going nowhere, slowly
It appears that Britain’s trade negotiators haven’t yet caught up with the news that their farmers want tariffs on imported agricultural products scrapped.
SIAFD draws 30k-strong crowd
The South Island Agricultural Field Days 2021 proved a winner, with a record more than 30,000 people heading through the gates for the biennial event.
Call for native tree policy rethink
A farmer involved in a new initiative that’s calling for a radical change in thinking to meet the Climate Change Commission’s target of 300,000ha of new native forests by 2035 says it’s going to be a big ask – but that’s not putting him off.
SWAG set sights on US market
Getting into the heads and minds of modern consumers is a key priority for the Strong Wool Action Group (SWAG) in its drive to understand the future value chain of New Zealand strong wool.
Trees potential extra earner for farmers
Farmers may be missing out on potential new income streams available if they planted areas not profitable to farm in trees, then register them under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
