{"id":29255,"date":"2017-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/forest-growth-needs-more-farmers\/"},"modified":"2017-10-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T11:00:00","slug":"forest-growth-needs-more-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/forest-growth-needs-more-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest growth needs more farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The single biggest constraint will be land availability, Forest Owners Association president Peter Clark says.<\/p>\n

The cost and ownership of potential forest estate had to be resolved for the Government to have a hope of re-igniting planting levels not seen since the mind 1990s.<\/p>\n

The coalition Government said it intended to aim for 50,000ha more trees, taking total plantings to about a billion trees over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n

The 50,000ha was on top of 50,000ha a year already being replanted on existing estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a real challenge but we have done this before.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the last time we planted numbers like this was back in the mid 1990s. Then, land was half to a third the value per hectare it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n

At prices close to $7000 a hectare on potential forestry land now under pasture there was a tough business case to be made.<\/p>\n

The Government would have to look to farms to source the land because planting vacant Crown estate simply would not be enough to hit the target.<\/p>\n

There was plenty of evidence to show farmers could maintain farm profitability while retiring less appealing pastoral areas into trees but unlocking that willingness would be a challenge that needed to be overcome.<\/p>\n

Nudging pastoral farming into a revised Emissions Trading Scheme might be the prompt needed to get those plantings under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it starts costing farmers for greenhouse gas emissions they will find a way to minimise that cost and that could be through forest plantings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government had suggested if farming was included in the ETS it would be initially for only the first 5% of emissions.<\/p>\n

Another option could be to examine a version of the afforestation scheme that provided funding to plant trees on 15,000ha and was fully subscribed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be we look at an afforestation scheme on steroids to help get the area up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark also urged farmers to look harder at what the real returns could be from forest plantings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge farmers to get it out of their heads about forestry being a long-term, 25-year investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Ministry for Primary Industries ETS review under way it was likely carbon returns could be annualised for forests.<\/p>\n

Typically, after year five a plantation would start soaking up significant carbon volumes and the value could be claimed yearly, up to about year 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat can work out at $10,000 a hectare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is significant and economically worthwhile to do given you still have the value of the forest at the end of it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark welcomed the integration of forestry into regional development plans but said they needed more people on the ground to get the trees planted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real skilled jobs in forestry that interest young people tend to be at the harvesting end with equipment and gear that holds appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

To get young people match fit for planting in tough forest country was a more immediate need and one the industry struggled to fulfil.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you do join and do get match fit, the money is there to be earned.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was heartened by Shane Jones having the regional development role and it reflected closely the role he had through the Pacific Islands in his last job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder whether it is time forestry had the chance to benefit from a Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) programme. Dairy has had it and so has horticulture.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was confident the stock of seedlings required could be ramped up with nurseries needing about 18 months to fully stock.<\/p>\n

And he took an alternative view to the find-and-destroy approach to wilding pines.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps we could look at removing them from the areas of valuable conservation land but manage them out in other areas and book the carbon returns on the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmers also needed more information on how to make money in forestry and Clark urged a return of forestry extension officers to do that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tree numbers, labour availability or infrastructure standards won\u2019t determine the success of the Government\u2019s ambitious plans to put an extra 50,000 hectares of land into trees over the coming decade.\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":29256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t