The practice of destocking land to plant trees, labelled a scam by one critic, was clamped down on by the government late last year, but that has only led to worries about a loophole being exploited by farmers and forestry companies. The change has done the opposite of what was intended — it has led to a gold rush of planting, one farming leader says.
A large station on the outskirts of Gore is believed to be the latest property which will no longer run stock and instead be covered in trees.
Although the sale of Glen Islay has not gone through — one of the owners confirmed it is yet to be sold — the property has been selling off stock, and trees have already been planted in some areas.
Glen Islay Station co-owner Thomas Roy said his family’s nine farming properties have not been sold and declined to comment any further.
Afforestation is a contentious issue, particularly among farmers, because as well as being lucrative, planting and then replanting trees can offset carbon emissions, earning carbon credits which, under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), can be converted into extra profit.
Research commissioned by Beef and Lamb NZ showed from 2017-24, 261,733ha of sheep and beef land was converted into forestry.
Beef and Lamb climate change programme manager Madeline Hall said planting trees instead of farming stock led to a loss of jobs in the community, a potential fire risk, increased pests and a long-standing hold over the land.
Radiata pine trees take 25-30 years to mature and must be replanted in order to earn credits.
Forestry was a "long-term" land use decision while sheep and beef was "year to year", she said.
She said forestry created less consistent, year-round job opportunities, and that 1000ha of sheep and beef employ on average 7.4 fulltime workers.
A study in the Wairoa district in 2019 said forestry generated 0.6 jobs per 1000ha.
Farmer Logan Evans, whose land borders Glen Islay, said he had no issue with the Roy family’s decision, as it was theirs to make, but he did have an issue with legislation, such as the ETS, which allowed this to happen.
He also said the "real losers" in the situation were the NZ public, who were missing out on protein that Glen Islay used to produce.
"Roughly 600,000kg of protein from Glen Islay’s 3500ha," he said.
"That would provide the protein for 1.2 million meals."
In December the government put a halt to entering the ETS and receiving carbon credits if converting actively farmed land into exotic forests.
However, the new rules included an exception to the ban for those already in the process, provided they can prove an "intent to afforest" prior to the December 4 moratorium.
Federated Farmers meat and wool executive member Dean Rabbidge, of Wyndham, who has just seen the farm next door to his property converted to forestry, said afforestation of farms was "extremely" disappointing and would lead to fewer jobs in small rural communities.
He also said the "intent to afforest" clause was a "loophole" that was being exploited by forestry companies.
What we were seeing now was a "gold rush" of farmers exploiting the loophole until legislation became more restrictive, he said.
Ms Hall also referenced the gold rush saying the market moves and finds things faster than the government, in every case.
Another controversial aspect of forestry among farmers is the idea of "carbon farming", which is when foreign companies buy forests in NZ to offset their carbon footprint — with no intention to ever harvest the trees.
Foreign buyers have faced increasing restrictions in forestry in New Zealand, with the introduction of the Overseas Investment (Forestry) Amendment Act in 2022 and carbon farming is, according to MPI’s statistics, less common.
An MPI April 2024 "Afforestation and Deforestation Intentions Survey" said in 2024, 88% of afforestation for exotic species was intended for production (harvesting) and 12% was intended for permanent forest.
ella.scott-fleming@alliedpress.co.nz
