editorial

Hybrid harvesting A fine Finnish

ISSN 1176-0397

From prison to purpose Electric chainsaws in the making

The Finnish-manufactured Logset 8H GTE Hybrid harvester is the first hybridpowered forestry machine to go to work in New Zealand.

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Finding solutions

THOUGH IT WASN’T INTENTIONAL, IN PUTTING TOGETHER THIS MONTH’S edition, one theme slowly began to thread its way through the pages – the lack of skilled workers in New Zealand and ways to bring them into our industry.

It’s no secret that forestry struggles to attract workers, the silviculture sector in particular, with long, hard hours of manual labour. The events of the past two years have exacerbated the situation countrywide, as other sectors are now feeling the pinch. An ageing population and a growing economy are not a good mix, with the traditional solution to recruit offshore blocked by COVID-19 border closures. Shut the borders for an indefinite amount of time and you’ve got a bigger problem.

Not surprising then that the worker shortage is coming to a head. However, what may be surprising to some is that, thanks to industry lobbying, the government is finally taking notice. The recent announcement that exceptions will be made to the usual immigration rules to allow 1580 experienced workers into the forestry, meat and dairy sectors (580 of those spots earmarked for forestry) has been met with mixed reactions – too little too late, not sufficient to ease the country’s skills shortage and not widespread enough, are some of the responses, while others view this as a good start. See our Forest Talk pages for details, and you can make up your own mind.

Another solution to worker shortages is, of course, to boost skills within New Zealand – something the subject of this month’s Iron Test is passionate about. While our focus is on his newly acquired Logset 8H GTE Hybrid harvester, Mike Hurring’s Balclutha-based training programme is busy this year. Developed via a partnership between Mike Hurring Logging & Contracting and Competenz to address workforce shortages in the Otago/Southland regions, it is delivering recruits with practical skills.

Hand in hand with upskilling, is attracting younger workers to the industry… or perhaps workers from another sector. Our Breaking Out feature this month could be taken literally as we investigate the Department of Corrections’ employment placement programme which has placed over 200 ex-offenders into forestry and logging jobs since November 2016. It’s win-win says FNR Forestry 2019 Managing Director Jeremy Parkinson, who employs ex-offenders in his forestry crews. “They get employment, they get upskilled, they get a trade and we get some good guys.”

What more could you want? Perhaps some useful new tools to complement those skills. With power supply the biggest challenge off the grid in the forest, our feature on the advent of electric chainsaws is intriguing. There are still a few steps before a competitive electric model for large felling saws is available, but the potential is clear to see.

So, while the latest immigration reforms are a start and we hope the new Accredited Employer Work Visa promised for July delivers, Kiwi foresters aren’t resting on their laurels. As Mike Hurring says, “It’s important to invest in people, otherwise what happens to your industry? It’s everybody’s responsibility really.”

Until next time, stay safe.