A project to help farmers plant up unproductive dairy land in native vegetation has been launched by Open Country in partnership with Nestlé.
It aims to see trees planted on unproductive dairy farmland on Open Country-supplying farms, including steep areas, gullies, riparian areas and wetlands.
For every native tree an Open Country farmer plants, the project will fund a second tree, cutting the cost of plantings in half for farmers.
Based on the government’s current communications, farmers may be able to use the new plantings to offset farm emissions under the proposed emissions pricing programme for agriculture.
The partnership will boost the uptake of tree planting already underway in Open Country’s catchment areas where Nestlé’s dairy ingredients are sourced from, Open Country chief executive Steve Koekemoer said.
“This programme is a unique opportunity to see our farmers, Nestlé and Open Country working together for mutual benefit. It will help our farmers turn less-productive dairying land into an environmental asset by capturing carbon and improving the environment,” he said.
“We know our farmers are focused on being good stewards of the land and many have already carried out significant planting work. This project will help them get a head start on further planting to offset emissions.”
The programme will kick off with the planting season in May and will run for five seasons, with plantings being tracked and monitored for 20 years.
Up to 310,000 trees are expected to be planted in the first five years, with a full assessment of all farms every five years to show the consolidated tree number. The carbon sequestered will be calculated based on methodology prescribed by the New Zealand Government.
In NZ the tree-planting season runs from May to September. Participating farmers will buy trees from the local nurseries of their choice and will be reimbursed by Open Country later in the season once trees are planted and verified on farm by Open Country.
