Trees will displace stock ‘very soon’

Published date30 September 2022
Publication titleHorowhenua Chronicle
B+LNZ’s latest stock number survey highlighted the extent of farmland being converted to forestry and said the real impact on stock numbers was yet to be realised, while the hidden costs were “the demise of rural communities” and labour availability

B+LNZ economic service chief economist Andrew Burtt pointed to a lag between farm sales and plantings, and said planting was constrained by availability of seedlings and labour.

Sheep numbers nationally were steady over the past 12 months and beef cattle numbers fell only slightly, despite unfavourable conditions in some regions.

Total sheep numbers came to 25.78 million, compared with 25.73 million last year, while beef cattle numbers decreased by 0.9 per cent to an estimated 3.93 million.

An independent report commissioned by B+LNZ to establish the conversion of farmland area to forestry, which covered from January 2017, to December 2020, reported that 139,500 hectares were being converted.

Two-thirds, or 92,100ha was whole farm conversion to forestry, of which 14,300ha was manuka. One-third (47,400ha) was within farm forestry planting.

The Overseas Investment Office approved new forest areas from January 1, 2021 to December 30, 2021 that totalled an additional 16,340ha and, from January 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022 a further 14,700ha.

The report said there had not been the tree-planting seedling stock available to have planted that area. That meant there continued to be a slower decrease in capital livestock and their production than the new afforestation areas indicated.

The estimated area set aside for afforestation from 2017 to the end of July 2022 totalled 200,000ha.

Capital livestock on...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT