The battle to curb ETS-driven farm-to-forest conversionsFriday 15 Aug 2025
He quotes Minister of Agriculture, Todd McClay, who said ETS incentives have driven the wrong outcomes for the rural sector for too long. "Once farms are planted in trees as a result of carbon credits we lose the ability to produce the high-quality, safe food that consumers demand – and we lose rural jobs, export earnings and the families that go with them," he said at the bill’s first reading. Climate Forestry Association chief executive, Andrew Cushen, says various reviews under the previous Government have already dented confidence and participation in the ETS. Dennis Neilson, a director of forest industry advisory and publishing firm, DANA, says the farming sector has been laying it on a bit thick, but he concedes it has done a better job of lobbying than the forestry sector. Neilson says there is now less land area in plantation trees in 2024 than there was in 2003. That’s borne out by the numbers. Richard Holloway, an agricultural economist with 40 years’ experience who now farms sheep and cattle, alongside a 270ha forest estate in Canterbury, takes issue with farmer messaging. The campaign portrays exotic forestry as being largely responsible for the significant decline in the national sheep flock over the past 30 years. “The facts simply do not support this and deserve to be put on record considering the importance of these two sectors to the NZ economy,” he says. “Let’s face it, sheep and beef returns have steadily declined over time, and [forestry] is a nice option for a bit of diversification into another enterprise. Laying the blame on forestry for the decline in sheep farming is “palpably incorrect”. More >> Source: Jamie Gray, Business Reporter for NZ Herald --(2022)2.jpg) | ||
Copyright 2004-2025 © Innovatek Ltd. All rights reserved. |
