Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 81, May 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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| May 2015 No. 81 | |||||
Afforestation Grant Scheme 2015 Announcement on Specialty Wood Products Partnership Future Forests Research members update Growing a new link with history
President
Executive
Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz
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Notices
NZFFA Life Member, Richard Davies-Colley passed away peacefully in Whangarei Hospital on Wednesday 20th May 2015.
From: Bob Stewart Latest headlinesGrowing Confidence in Forestry's Future (GCFF) Research Programme: Download the GCFF Newsletter: Issue 3, May 2015 [650 Kb PDF]:
Scion on the farm: At the recent Farm Forestry Association conference Scion scientists provided new information and resources to the attendees – and here it is again if you missed it. Scion scientists were out in force during the two field days of the 59th Annual Farm Forestry Association conference, providing updates on recent and ongoing research carried out under levy-funded programmes, as well as the general operations of Scion. Presentations were made on a wide range of topics relevant to farm foresters, from advances in woodlot and soil management to research with native forest species to biocontrol efforts and everything in between. The attendees were highly engaged with the presentations, as in some cases the questions and answer sessions lasted much longer than the actual presentations. If you couldn’t make it to the conference you won’t miss out because copies of these presentations and related resources are now available from the following website, as are the contact details of the Scion presenters.
How much wood has my woodlot got? Decision support tools that provide management recommendations are commonly used in large-scale forestry enterprises, but are used much less frequently in the management of small-scale forest stands. One of the reasons for this is the availability of suitable tools to provide assistance – various expert systems and surfaces have been developed to track productivity, nutrient pools and water balance over large areas, but these are not readily applicable over smaller land units. Scion is seeking to address this gap by developing a new tool that focusses specifically on the needs of small woodlot owners. The design of the tool has been kept simple, allowing it to be used with only basic stand information such as planting date and the rate of stocking. To test the usefulness of the tool and to help develop it further, Scion wants to engage with small block owners who are willing to provide feedback. If you are interested in getting involved in this important project, which will provide benefits to farm foresters, please contact Samuel Damesin.
Samuel.Damesin@scionresearch.com Forest planting scheme hints at potential in trees: Forest owners welcome the reboot of the popular Afforestation Grant Scheme (AGS) announced yesterday by associate primary industries minister Jo Goodhew. More>> President's report to Annual Conference, Whangarei April 20th 2015: Ladies and gentlemen, 2014, the 58th year of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association has been in many ways a momentous one for your organisation. It could be said that the Association has come of age this year and is now an important force within the New Zealand Forest industry. More >> What science is the forest levy providing farm foresters? Growing Confidence in Forestry’s Future (GCFF) Research Programme: At the recent GCFF conference a wide array of results with direct relevance to farm foresters were presented by the scientists working in this levy funded programme. Around 50% of the Forest Grower Levy is used to support research that improves the productivity, safety and ecological sustainability of New Zealand’s planted forests. More >>
Events
For more information on these events they are posted on the website >>
Afforestation Grant Scheme 2015The refreshed Afforestation Grant Scheme (AGS) will be open for applications from 27 May and close 30 June 2015. Grants are for people or organisations wanting to plant new forests. Download the MPI flyer here>> Announcement on Specialty Wood Products PartnershipMBIE have today announced the approval of the Specialty Wood Products Partnership. They have approved the full funding request of $710,000 per year over a 7 year period, to be matched dollar for dollar by industry co funding. Scion will be investing a further $550,000 per annum from their core funding. This is a great outcome for those who have supported this project over the past 18 months and will give a much needed boost to developing new opportunities for forest growers and wood processors from Douglas-fir, Cypresses and both durable and non-durable Eucalypts. It is unique in the forest industry in that it brings end users, processors, growers and tree breeders together with researchers in a cross value chain programme aimed at raising the value of exports from specialty wood products and raising the value of these species to forest growers. Now that we have this confirmation of government support we will be contacting industry investors in the programme to confirm their funding support. As the programme will be contracted via FFR, those organisations who are already members of the PGP funded Steep Land Harvesting Programme will only need to sign a schedule to their existing FFR membership agreement to confirm their support of this new programme. Non harvesting programme investors will be sent the FFR member agreement documents for signing to record their commitment to the funding. MBIE will make it a condition of their funding support that we have the written commitment of industry investors. Work has already started between Scion, University of Canterbury and Marlborough Research Centre to develop the first annual research programme. We will now convene an interim programme steering group to oversee the formation of the new partnership under Peter Berg's chairmanship. I am also pleased to announce that Scion have agreed to the short term secondment of Alison Slade to FFR as interim programme manager to conclude the funding contracts with MBIE and co funders whilst we work through the appointment of a programme manager.For your information here is a media release by FFR on today's announcement.
Russell Dale
Future Forests Research members update
Bioenergy news - "Bioflash"
Growing a new link with history
Scion has grown a new generation of trees from the iconic Gallipoli Peninsula Lone Pine that have been included in ANZAC Day centenary commemorations around New Zealand. Species calculatorsFor those of you who have had difficulty accessing the Future Forests Research species calculators, the links are all fixed and members can log in and access them here: Eucalyptus fastigata calculator >>
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