34 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
Thursday, October 21, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age
FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 35
www.age.co.nz Thursday, October 21, 2021
FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Anti-forestry drive environmentally and economically destructive Foresters are calling a proposed anti-forestry coalition of local bodies a prejudiced step backwards in time and destructive for their communities both environmentally and economically. The mayors of Tararua and Wairoa have written to fellow mayors throughout New Zealand wanting money to fund a report designed to show that forestry is negative and ought to be restricted. The President of the Forest Owners Association, Phil Taylor, says it is contradictory for the Wairoa District to declare climate change to be a key issue in its Long-Term Plan in January, and a few months later leads a national charge to put every obstacle in the way of achieving carbon sequestration through forestry. “Unfortunately, some council leaders are also o˜ -beam with their understanding of the economics of forestry as well, the recent MPI commissioned
Regional economies also stand the most to beneÿ t from New Zealand’s move away from fossil fuels to wood-based bioenergy. This imminent transformation to satisfy overseas consumers of our primary products, has already been recognised by a signiÿ cant part of the agriculture sector who have not been slow to embrace forestry. PwC Report quite clearly found forestry was much higher in earning power and employment than using the hill country land for continuing to farm livestock.” Farm Forestry Association President, Graham West, says the terms of reference the Wairoa and Tararua mayors have set out for their report, are ÿ xated on forestry and don’t look at the diverse and long-term interests of their constituency. “The mayors demand a longterm plan for forestry. But they haven’t done the same for farming, East Coast councils should be carefully looking at the impact of climate change in
an already dry region and what viable land use options there are, including a mix of forestry. “Forbidding tree planting is not going to increase wool prices, nor ward o˜ the threat of synthetic meat. “New local processing industries, for both food and ÿ bre need to be developed, which will support farming communities in the longer term.” “Tree farming will supply the raw material for the rapidly emerging bioeconomy, and that in turn may need new tree species instead of radiata pine. The mayors should be encouraging a report which is
broader and objective. A report like this could help councils build a resilient economy for their communities.” Phil Taylor says some councils, such as Hawkes Bay Regional Council, are taking advantage of opportunities for forestry. “Some councils see forestry as a good income earning investment for future generations, and doing their bit for the environment at the same time. In this case, Hawkes Bay is grappling to meet new government water quality standards, while at the same time one of their districts is trying to make the job to comply harder.
It would be a good time for local government to do an objective analysis of land use choice and opportunities. Our industry would be delighted to have input into this, as I am sure would Federated Farmers and other farm organisations.” “What none of us need is a call to legislate against farmer choices based on what appears to be a set of prejudices to keep farms free of any trees.” Phil Taylor President Forest Owners Association Graham West President Farm Forestry Association
Murray’s Nurseries milestone year With the 2021 planting season complete, Murray’s Nurseries in Woodville re˛ ects on a milestone year. Patrick Murray and his team of four supplied a record 13 million baby pines this year. 15 million is planned for next year. “We have been very lucky that the timing of the Covid lockdowns had little impact on us,” says Patrick. Murray’s specialises in growing seedlings for New Zealand forestry companies with sustainable harvest programmes.
5.4 hectares and 2.7 million seedlings in neat rows for easy harvest at Murray’s Nurseries in Woodville.
change is afoot and he expects Murray’s to play a signiÿ cant role.
Forest Enterprises chooses speciÿ c seed stock to produce trees with desirable characteristics like sti˜ , straight trunks and small branches. Seedlings are planted at about a year old and always during winter when there’s good rainfall and the trees are dormant. “Murray’s is an innovative company and it’s a bonus they’re located close to home”, says Malte.
Contract growing for Forest Enterprises
Cultivating quality and innovation
“Murray’s grows high quality, uniform seedlings for us which have excellent survival and growth rates”, says Malte Coulmann, Southern North Island Regional Manager for Masterton-based forestry investment manager, Forest Enterprises.
“I love developing new ways of growing pines more e˝ ciently and sustainably than ever before”, says Patrick. Murray’s grows seedlings in the ÿ eld, direct from seed. “The tech we use is unique to our nursery”, explains
Patrick Murray with a handful of baby pines ready for planting.
Patrick. “We’ve developed our own semi-automated RTK GPS with steer-controlled propagation equipment. It’s a highly e˝ cient single-operator production system.” Patrick says that, with current demand for planting and labour supply issues, industry
“We’re putting together an R&D programme to develop a mechanical seedling harvest system that we hope will evolve into robotics. We’re also involved with Lincoln University in soil fungi trials, and in the ÿ eld with hybrid clones trialling a new technique I believe will succeed growing from cuttings.” Invest in a renewable resource Forest Enterprises replants all forest land after harvest. The company planted nearly 1.2 million trees in Wairarapa in 2021. Forest Enterprises is the largest harvesting company in the
region. Around a third of its timber from here goes to local sawmills like Kiwi Lumber, Davis Sawmill, Mitchpine and Pan Pac. The forest environment improves with each crop as the soil becomes better conditioned for pine growth. Forest Enterprises’ second rotation forests, like it’s latest investment, the Pukek˙ whai Forest are planted with the latest tree genetics. Having been harvested already, the roads and landings within the forest are in place and the harvest plan is proven. All these can have an impact on investment returns. To invest in sustainable forestry, contact Forest Enterprises today. 0800 746 346 www.forestenterprises.co.nz/ pukekowhai
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36 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
Thursday, October 21, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age
FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 37
www.age.co.nz Thursday, October 21, 2021
FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA Foresters welcoming ministry recognition for tree planting Foresters have welcomed recognition by the Ministry for the Environments’ new discussion reduction report released last week. The report has for the ÿ rst time laid out how NZ may deal with carbon emissions from its various sectors. (Still omitting the Agricultural sector, which although contributing nearly half of all NZ emissions, has till 2025 to come up with its own measures for reducing these emissions.) New forestry plantings have been estimated by the MoE to be needed in the region of 1 million hectares if New Zealand is to have a good crack at meeting any carbon measurement targets. Currently we have failed to meet all targets. This could
see the need for another 5 Kaingaroa Forest’s across NZ, but in the end the scale of our nurseries and infrastructure will cap these new plantings. There’s only so much a forester can do! The new report also highlights the role forestry will play in biofuels for replacing fossil fuels in NZ. Estimates are that Fonterra alone will require three to four million tonnes a year of biomass to replace coal that is currently drying all their milk power for export. Just to supply Fonterra would need another 200,000ha of forests planted to supply this biomass. Bioenergy Association of NZ executive o˝ cer Brian Cox says work already done shows 60% of coal
Log export report OCTOBER 2021
takes them out of the available bulk ° eet. Add to this the long wait times at Chinese ports e˛ ectively reducing the availability of vessels and it’s a great time to own a bulk carrier. There are rumors of some softening in the freight market as vessel owners have started reading the commodity tea leaves but only time will tell if it manifests into lower freight costs.
Just when you think you’ve reached the bottom of a cycle and this are looking slightly rosier on the horizon, along comes something out of left ÿ eld and slaps you fair in the face. In this instance, that thing is Evergrande.
could be replaced with existing biomass sources coming from both large plantation forests and large on-farm woodlots. Forestry is not just a onetrick pony and plays an equal future role in other sectors reducing their emissions as well as storing carbon and producing timber for all the products we need. The MoE report highlights the key role that reforestation will play in our carbon neutral future with consultation workshops and submissions available for the public open now. The full emissions discussion paper can be viewed at www. environment.govt.nz
With record high prices in the traditionally slow months of June and July now seeming like a lifetime ago, we have seen at wharf gate export prices drop from $NZ170/JAS for A grade to sub $NZ120/JAS in October.
companies, market sentiment took a turn for the worse.
GFC when commodities were at record levels.
It looked like things were stabilizing in September with in-market pricing seemingly ÿ nding a ° oor level and some exporters even reporting increases, however, once the Evergrande debarkle came to press and exposed the greater liquidity issues of many other large Chinese development
This needs to be put into perspective however as the CFR (sales price in China in $US) is still around 20% above the 3-year average. The biggest contributor to low at wharf gate returns continues to be freight costs with freight around double the 2020 levels and 15% higher than the pre-
There are a number of factors driving this, most of them covid related. Companies that are struggling to move container freight are chartering bulk carriers that would otherwise carry logs. There is evidence of bulk carriers being converted to carry containers under-deck which e˛ ectively
Lockdown in NZ allowed most ports to completely cleanout all log stocks, however after little more than a month back at work, most ports are bulging at the seams again. With 2-3 week wait times to discharge in Chinese ports, there’s approximately 3 months production already in the supply-chain so its unlikely that any reductions in sales prices will result in reduced supply until early 2022. The
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It is likely that the remainder of Q4 2021 will be rather ugly and Q1 2022 may not be far behind. Some exporters are talking prices in the very early $100’s for November which sends shivers down the spines of even the most steeled in our industry. Many forest owners are clinging to the hope of a return to $NZ150/JAS A grade, but that might be like clinging onto the guard rail on the Titanic waiting for a lifeboat.
The Southern North Island Wood Council provides a collective voice for the forestry sector in Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu, Wairarapa, Tararua and Wellington. Members have a common interest in ensuring the long-term success of the sector. Membership is open to any company or individual with an interest in the local wood industry. Erica Kinder, SNI Wood Council CEO, can be contacted for more information.
(Sourced data from FarmersWeekly)
DIESEL & HYDRAULIC OIL SUPPLIES
general rule of thumb is that price levels under $NZ120/ JAS for A grade start to see reasonable reductions in supply as the private woodlots slow or stop and many of the larger forests put supply restrictions on harvesting crews.
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