Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 78, February 2015
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 New Zealand Farm Forestry Association |
NZFFA P.O. Box 10349 The Terrace Wellington 6143 www.nzffa.org.nz
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| February 2015 No. 78 | |||||
Notices Forestry and farming - amateurs vs professionals Dismal rate of new land planting continues
Executive
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Notices:
AGENDA ITEMS AND NOTICES OF MOTION FOR THE COUNCIL MEETING AND AGM AT WHANGAREI CONFERENCE: No remits have been received to date but Branches still have the opportunity to propose Notices of Motion and Agenda Items for meetings at Conference.
Agenda Items and Notices of Motion must be received by National Office by 20 March. AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION AND RULES: At the Special Council Meeting on the 5 November 2014, the following resolution was passed: “Special Interest Groups be accorded the same status as branches with representative status at Council”. Draft amendments to the Constitution and Rules to give effect to this resolution will be circulated shortly. Latest headlinesDon’t go down to the woods today: With the risk of forest fire now very high or extreme in many parts of the country, the public is being cautioned not to enter plantation forests without permission. more >> ETS Crisis Meeting called for: Forest owners are asking the government to call an urgent meeting of primary sector leaders and iwi to deal with the country’s greenhouse gas emissions blow-out. They say a lack… more >> Diverse Forests, Emerging Opportunities: A new future for diverse forests research Welcome to the second edition of our quarterly newsletter. In the first issue (September 2014), we highlighted our recent… more >> NZ Forests Gain International Visibility: With the acceptance of the NZ Forest Certification Association (NZFCA) as New Zealand’s PEFC Member, New Zealand forest growers gain visibility in the world’s leading forest certification system. “We are… more >> Trees on Farms SFF project winds up: The Trees on Farms Workshops Project, a major MPI Sustainable Farming Fund project which was managed by the NZ Farm Forestry Association, is complete. NZFFA … more >> Research at Scion: What do fire danger signs mean? New research shows that the iconic fire danger signs may need to be updated to better promote fire safety across New Zealand. The familiar multi-coloured fire danger signs are a… more >> Growing Confidence in Forestry's Future (GCFF) Research Programme: Wind, snakes and forest production in South America. John Moore reports on a wind impact conference and provides his observations of intensive plantation management in South America. The effect of extreme wind events on plantation productivity is… more >> New Work on Biological Control for Eucalyptus Tortoise Beetle: LATEST NEWS: Promising Biological Control agent imported into Containment On December 12th 2014, NZFFA representative on the SFF project team Dean Satchell brought back from Tasmania an exciting present: a… more >> Latest blogsArriving in New Zealand 1962, John Purey-Cust Biosecurity is very important, Wink Sutton Don't forget, any members can have their own blog and can comment on other members blogs. Please contact head office to set up your blog! EventsBranch secretaries, please notify head office of any branch or action group events.
Forestry and farming - amateurs vs professionalsTowards the end of last year, I attended an evening event where there were quite a few local leaders present. One was a person who often features in the farming media – I guess it’s best if he remains nameless. As we sipped our cool wines, he asked me my background, to which I replied ‘forestry’. His immediate response was ‘growing trees is a waste of time’. When asked why, he said that he had blocks of forestry on his farms, and that they would not have earned him $100/ha/year since their establishment. I countered by saying that I had a farm forestry mate who not long ago sold a block of trees for around $20k/ha. What’s more, some were only 20 years old and all were affected by the big wind of 18 months ago. And that is where our conversation ceased. Since then, I have thought about this person’s dismissive statement about forest blocks on farms, as it is one which we hear only too often. I have also relived how I could have responded. My reply should have been along these lines. “We live on 8 ha where we have grazed sheep for close to 40 years. However, I doubt if the returns have covered the costs of their upkeep. Therefore I could be equally dismissive about the commercial worth of sheep. There is a simple reason for this. Basically, it is because I am an amateur sheep farmer, and as a result my management is not the best. Also, when it comes to sales, I just ring the stock agent and accept what he says they are worth. I suggest it is the same with you and your forest blocks – you are just an amateur tree grower with limited knowledge, whose management and sale of trees could be improved.” Nick Ledgard Dismal rate of new land planting continuesThe figures for plantation establishment in 2014 have just been released by MPI. They are calculated from the number of seedlings sold by nurseries (28 of them). It is estimated that there were 46,000ha of land planted, BUT only 3000 ha of that was new land (all the rest was replanting of harvested plantations). The new land area (3000ha) was slightly less than for 2013, and close to the record low figures of 2006-08. Radiata pine made up 95% of all planting, D-fir 2%. Nurseries do not see any significant change happening in 2015. NZ Wood Timber Design AwardsThe prestigious NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards will be run throughout 2015 culminating in a gala event at Rayonier Ltd, Auckland Central, Tuesday 15 September 2015.
Please watch out for the new releases, advising of each step along the way. Also visit the NZ Wood website for more detailed information (www.nzwood.co.nz) For further information contact: Promotions Manager – Debbie Fergie debbie@wpma.org.nz or 03 544 1086.
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