Editorial: New Treeland?
OPINION: Forestry is not all bad and planting pine trees on land that is prone to erosion or in soils which cannot support livestock farming makes sense.
The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) has granted Wolfgang Leitner consent to buy the 800ha property located in Kotemaori, Wairoa and convert it to forestry.
The property known as Ponui Station currently has 714ha being grazed by sheep and beef stock. Leitner plans to plant a further 640ha of commercial forest, it currently has just 14ha of existing commercial forestry.
According to the real estate listing the farm is described as “clean, healthy country, sought after scale, and opportunity to extend farm capability.”
Meanwhile, this isn’t Leitner’s first farm purchase in NZ, having been granted consent to buy the $4.5m, 489ha Ngapuke Station in Gisborne last September.
