Productive farmland still being lost to forestry
OPINION: Uncertainty around the rules intending to limit carbon forestry risks undermining the Government’s well-intentioned efforts to protect productive farmland and rural communities.
The statement comes after the release of the B+LNZ Stock Number Survey which showed farmers adapting to challenging circumstances including drought, processing delays and Covid-19.
The report, published this week, also highlights the extent of farmland being converted to forestry.
B+LNZ Economic Service chief economist Andrew Burtt says that while the increase in farm sales into forestry is yet to lead to a significant reduction in stock numbers, it can be expected to soon.
“There is usually a lag between farm sale and plantings, and planting is constrained by availability of seedlings and labour to plant them,” he says.
“After the original land has been planted, how livestock move through the system onto other farms before being sent to processing or directly to processing influences what statistics show. Much depends on the circumstances on individual farms.”
B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor says the extent of sheep and beef farmland being converted to forestry, along with the cumulative impact of a range of other policies on farm viability, is concerning.
“B+LNZ’s position remains that there needs to be specific limits on the amount of forestry that can be used to offset fossil fuel emissions in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS),” he says.
McIvor says New Zealand is the only country to allow 100% forestry offsetting, with other countries allowing approximately 10%.
“Without these limits all other policy changes, while helpful, will not solve the problem.
“As more farms are sold for forestry conversion, B+LNZ continues to call on the Government to take urgent action to stop the loss of productive farmland and the decimation of rural communities.”
