Farm Forestry New Zealand

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Eucalyptus beetle incursions

Survey of NZ Farm Forest Owners with Recent Harvest Activity

Afforestation Grant Scheme Moves Ahead

President
Dean Satchell dsatch@gmail.com
-Far North
-Mid North

Newsletter editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@gmail.com

National Office
Association Manager Glenn Tims
glenn.tims@nzffa.org.nz
Phone: 04 4720432
 

Executive

Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz
-Taupo & Districts
-Middle Districts
-Hawkes Bay

Neil Cullen cullen@farmside.co.nz
-Mid Otago
-South Otago
-Southland
-Sthn High Country (south)

Hamish Levack hlevack@xtra.co.nz
-Gisborne East Coast
-Wairarapa
-Wellington

Patrick Milne patrick@cypress.co.nz
-West Coast
-Central Canterbury
-North Canterbury

Peter Berg
thebergs@ihug.co.nz
-Lower North
-Waitomo
-Waikato
-Bay of Plenty

Don Wallace
don@wallace.gen.nz
-Taranaki
-Marlborough
-Nelson


 

Notices

14 December 2016
Notification of Levy Rate
The Forest Growers Levy Trust (FGLT) have approved a levy of 27 cents per cubic metre for the 2017 calendar year. This levy is imposed on all harvested wood material from plantation forests in New Zealand under the authority granted by the Commodity Levies (Harvested Wood Material) Order 2013.
Information on the FGLT and the 2017 Work Programme is available at: http://www.fglt.org.nz/

Changes to Future Forests Research Ltd

At a Special Meeting of FFR members held yesterday to consider changes to Future Forests Ltd, the following resolutions were passed:

1. That the company name is changed to Forest Growers Research Limited.
   Members Voted: 99.65%
2. That the proposed changes to the company Constitution, Operating Agreement and Membership Agreement, as presented on the FFR website and referred to in the Members Update on Proposed Changes to FFR (18 November 2016) be adopted.
   Members Voted: 90.50%
3. That the single share in the company be transferred to NZ Forest Owners Association as Trustee Shareholder.
   Members Voted: 99.65%
4. That the Chairman be authorised to certify to the Shareholder that resolutions a, and c have been passed by a 75% majority of the Members and that resolution b has been passed by a majority of 90% of the Members.
   Members Voted: 99.65%

Accordingly all resolutions were approved by current FFR members who are funding the Steep Land Harvesting and Specialty Wood Products research programmes.

Events

For more information on these events, they are posted on the NZFFA website >>
Branch secretaries, please make sure you notify head office of any branch or action group events.

• South Otago branch field day - Friday 17 February 2017, 1.30 pm, David and Helen Vollweiler winners of the 2016 Landcare Trust Award for Innovaton in Sustainable Farm Forestry, 82 Berriedale Road.
• NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards, March 2017 at the Pullman Hotel Auckland.
• NZFFA Conference 2017 "The Challenge of Diverse Landforms"
  Conference 2017 will be held at Feilding, Manawatu, Thursday 6th April - Sunday 9th April 2017.
• Durable eucalypts on drylands: Protecting and enhancing value, Workshop 19th - 20th April 2017, Marlborough Research Centre, Blenheim. NZ Drylands Forestry Initiative

NZFFA Middle Districts Conference

6-9 April 2017, Feilding.  (Additional Whanganui Day 10 April)

Accommodation  You need to book accommodation early to secure accommodation in Feilding.   There is plenty of accommodation outside of Feilding but your conference days will be longer.   Contact i-site Travel Specialist Rachel Lamb, phone 06 350 1922, email rachel@manawatunz.co.nz

Registration  The Early Registration Discount applies up to 28 February 2017.  If you have any questions about registration, contact Registrar Jane Priest, phone 06 328 9852 or email mdconf2017@nzffa.org.nz

"The first article about the Conference was in your November2016 Tree Grower magazine, and a further article and Registration Form will be in your February 2017 issue.  There is also information on the Conference web page www.nzffa.org.nz/conference/conference2017 and you can register there online

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Blogs

A Forest Flows
Chris Perley's Blog

Plantations can be very productive
Wink Sutton's Blog

Eucalyptus selection for New Zealand - what is the elephant in the room?
Dean Satchell's blog

Farm forestry to merge with NZ Forest Owners?
Nick Ledgard's blog

NZFFA members can set up their own blogs on the NZFFA website. Email Dean.

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Headlines

Update on Paropsis biocontrol December 2016
The parasitoid wasp Eadya paropsidis remains a strong candidate for safe release as a biological control agent for Eucalyptus tortoise beetle in New Zealand. Eadya paropsidis has been identified as…
more>>

More trees part of the answer to agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions
The Forest Owners Association is backing the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s call for more plantation forests to be planted in New Zealand to offset greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture.… more>>

Forest industry wants to see how government can deliver on Biosecurity 2025 promise
The Forest Owners Association believes the government is aiming in the right direction with its just announced biosecurity ambitions, but wants to see real plans to deliver on this intention.… more>>

Forest industry’s challenge to manage supply fluctuations
The pan forest and timber processing industry organisation, the New Zealand Wood Council (Woodco) says there is a supply challenge for many regions in the domestic processing industry. WoodCo media… more>>

Reports (Members Area)

Executive minutes August 2016

Promotions committee 21 November 2016

Council minutes 18th April 2016

Forest Products Export Committee Meeting, 11 October 2016

FOA executive meeting, 23 November 2016

Eucalyptus beetles

Introducing the NZ Eucalyptus Pests app

You can now download an app for your Android or Apple mobile device that makes it quick and easy to record observations of leaf beetles on eucalypt trees. The "NZ Eucalyptus Pests" app is available for free on Google Play and Apple's App Store.

The app contains fact sheets about three eucalyptus leaf beetles in NZ. It lets you tap on a species to take a photo and submit an observation (so it's super quick to make an observation. It also lists all the observations you've added to this project so you can check what IDs and comments have been made. The app lists all of your the observations in the Eucalyptus leaf beetles NZ project, whether you added them with the app, the NatureWatch NZ website, or the iNaturalist app.

Parosisterna beetles in Hawkes Bay and Waikenae

Two new tortoise beetle incursions are being monitored by NZFFA. Reports are available on the NZFFA website:

Parosisterna variicollis (EVB or Eucalyptus Variegated Beetle) in Hawkes Bay region

Paropsisterna beata (ELB or Eucalyptus Leaf Beetle) Whitemans Valley and Waikenae, Wellington region

Survey of NZ Farm Forest Owners with Recent Harvest Activity

A quick update and friendly reminder from our NZFFA Neil Barr Foundation project on Harvesting. The initial component is a survey of farm forest values and harvesting experiences and we have received responses from (only) 7 landowners spanning Northland to Otago. Some interesting information to date:

• The good: 86% of participants agreed they received sound financial advice prior to harvesting AND that overall, environmental values were protected during the harvest.
• The bad: Only 58% were satisfied with the overall financial outcome. Unsatisfied landowners cited reasons including perceived low net returns, high costs of harvesting and log transport, transportation of logging equipment (i.e., move-in costs), unforeseen deductions (e.g., port scaling fees), and the lack of a detailed breakdown of all harvesting costs.
• All participants agreed that their woodlots provide important commercial value and shelter for livestock, while 86% agreed that their woodlots provide important aesthetic values.
• We asked, “What main piece of advice would you give to a fellow farm forest owner preparing to harvest?” Top responses included ‘choose your logging contractor carefully’ (57% of participants), ‘understand all of the costs involved with harvesting your woodlot’ (57% of participants), and ‘plan ahead’ (43% of participants).

Our goal is to complete 20 surveys to ensure we get a good representative overview of values and harvesting experiences. So a friendly reminder for you to encourage one or two farm foresters in your region that have had harvesting work carried out in the last two years to participate in the survey. This will really help our understanding and reporting. Thanks in advance you for your consideration.

Regards,
Dr. Kris Brown
School of Forestry
University of Canterbury
kristopher.brown@canterbury.ac.nz
Cell phone: 022-317-1982
Web profile: https://84kbrow.com/

Afforestation Grant Scheme Moves Ahead

The dates for the 2017 funding round of the AGS have been confirmed. The round will open on 13 March 2017 and close on 27 April.

The purpose of the fund is to achieve a better environment through planting new forests. Whether it be carbon absorption or reducing land erosion, the scheme is already making a real contribution.

Next year’s round is expected to see the momentum of the first two rounds continue. MPI was very pleased with the number and quality of applications in this year’s round, and approved 81 grants for a total of 4,818ha of new forests.

That’s the same number of grants as last year, but with an additional 1,918ha of land which will result in over 5.5 million new seedlings planted during winter 2017.

This shows how the AGS is becoming better utilised by land owners, and means that after two funding rounds the scheme is well on track to meet the target of planting 15,000ha of new trees by 2020.
Click the link below for more information, including eligibility and how to apply.

Find out more about the AGS >>

Ministry for Primary Industries

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