In response to inquiries from the Otago Daily Times, a spokesman for the country’s largest farmer said about 650ha of new planting had been identified on the 3040ha Thornicroft Station, near Lake Mahinerangi, which would be planted over the next two winters if consented.
On Waipori Station, which shared boundaries with Thornicroft, Pamu was looking at about 2300ha to be planted. Like Thornicroft, it did not expect that to have a large bearing on staffing levels as the company shifted to a higher percentage of finishing stock on the balance of the 12,564ha property.
There were no current plans to plant whole farms and nothing that would be carbon only, the spokesperson said.
Pamu asked its contractor to start an ecological assessment on areas on Thornicroft that had been identified as having significant cost required in waterway fencing if it was to continue farming cattle and deer on them past 2024; low livestock productivity (such as class 6 or 7 land); safe passage considerations (such as people safety considerations), and good forestry production potential.
In its latest annual report, Pamu said it was scaling up forestry and had a commitment to new planting of about 1000ha annually until 2030.
Most of that was pinus radiata although other exotic and native species were being included where that best aligned to land suitability and future market potential.
At June 30 last year, Pamu had a total plantation forestry area of 14,280ha. The company held 1 million carbon credits (New Zealand units) after a further 3% were added during the year.
Pamu viewed all forestry in terms of its contribution to increasing ecosystem services — carbon capture, land stabilisation, freshwater protection, biodiversity and species habitat for crop pollinators and honey bees. It expected the value of those services to be increasingly monetised in future, the report said.
Many of its farm managers welcomed the opportunity to integrate more trees with their traditional livestock farming operations, it said.
More broadly, Pamu viewed land-use decision making across its portfolio as critical to all strategy areas, whether the outcome was more forestry or horticulture, retirement of land for natural forest regeneration or sale to another owner.
Last month, Pamu — which has a nationwide portfolio of 116 farms covering 360,000ha — announced the establishment of an independent sustainability panel "to bolster its commitment to sustainable farming".
It said its commitment to tackling climate change included actions such as linking future bank loans to sustainability goals including year-on-year emission reductions, working with partners on farm emissions reduction projects, methane reduction trials, lowering its environmental footprint through organic dairy and nitrogen reduction, land use change through horticulture and integrating trees into the landscape on marginal farming land.
The panel’s six members included four from outside Pamu; Silver Fern Farms chief sustainability and risk officer Kate Beddoe, Zespri sustainability advisory board member Carolyn Mortland, former Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research chief executive Richard Gordon and climate scientist and Waikato University lecturer Luke Harrington.
The other two were Pamu directors Desiree Mahy and Belinda Story.
Pamu reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and reevaluations of $75 million for the year ended 30 June 2022, a 23% increase on the previous year ($61 million). The company declared a dividend of $5 million.
