Farm Forestry New ZealandConference 2023
“The new normal. Opportunity or threat?”
NZFFA Annual conference, 30 March to 3 April 2023 Timaru
Programme includes:
- Thursday 30 March – Action Group meetings
- Friday 31 March – AGM, Councillor meeting and workshops
- Friday 31 March – Opening dinner
- Saturday 1 April – Local farm forestry fieldtrips
- Saturday 1 April – Awards Dinner
- Sunday 2 April – Mackenzie Basin trip
- Monday 3 April – Geraldine trip
- Monday 3 April – Closing dinner
Conference Agenda and Registration form (pdf) »
Online registration
Step 1: Register on the NZFFA website
If you have never been a member or registered with us on the NZFFA website before, then the first thing you need to do is register with us. The process is simple and once you've done that you'll then be able to register for conference with your credit card.
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Step 2: Register for Conference
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Conference Agenda
Thursday 30 March Action Group Meetings
This is a full day set aside for the Action Groups to meet with an hour and a quarter available for each group throughout the day. This style was first introduced in 2019 and successfully repeated in 2020. The evening will be free for time to catch-up with old friends.
Friday 31 March AGM, Councillor meeting and workshops
The Council meeting and AGM will be held in the morning. After lunch we will have the workshop presentations. There will be a number of speakers that will address a number of topics under our broad theme of “The new normal. Opportunity or threat.” The first half of the presentations will focus on carbon and implications of the ETS for farm foresters. The second half will focus on the National Environmental Standards for forestry and practical ways to apply them.
Workshop presentations
1.00 pm to 1.30 pm Phil Taylor (Port Blakely Ltd)
- Setting the New Zealand forest scene, the implications of the Emissions Trading Scheme
1.30 pm to 2.00 pm Simon Petrie (MPI)
- Technical aspects of Emissions Trading Scheme
2.00 pm to 2.30 pm Clayton Wallwork
- Corporate climate responsibility paying for indigenous forestry
2.30 pm to 3.00 pm Peter Weir- Environmental manager (Ernslaw One)
- The forestry NES-PF; implications and practical affects for farm foresters
3.30 pm to 4.00 pm Aslan Wright-Stow (Dairy NZ)
- Nutrient mitigation with wetlands and riparian planting
4.00 pm to 4.30 pm Alex Wilson (Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service)
- Governments vision for forestry in New Zealand
In the evening we will have the opening dinner.
Saturday 1 April - Local farm forestry fieldtrips
This day has been set aside for local farm forestry visits. The first visit will be to Alpine, a 1030 ha property, just west of Timaru. Although run as a traditional beef and sheep farm, it has 90 ha of trees of which 70 ha are registered in the ETS. The visit will include some ‘Woolshed talks’ that will focus on farming sustainably within the constraints of current regulations.
After lunch the buses will take us to Gladwyn, a 400 ha beef and sheep property with 25 ha of forestry. Here we will hear some talks on early versus optimum harvest regimes, advantages of having your own sawmill and ideas on how trees fit into the landscape.
The day will conclude back in Timaru with the Awards Dinner.
Sunday 2 April – Mackenzie Basin trip
Prepare for an early day as we visit the iconic Mackenzie Basin. Our first stop will be to Balmoral Station. This is a 9,700 ha property that has 450 ha of a new low-spread exotic species of trees. These are used both as a carbon sink and as production forestry resource to provide an extra revenue stream. We will also visit the dryland forestry research site and have talks on the place of trees in the high country, consent issues, wilding spread and carbon potential.
Our second stop will be to Mt Cook Station (featured on Country Calendar recently). There will be a drive around the property on an internal road with a stop that includes a short walk. We have a variety of speakers lined up that will talk about several topics including how wilding trees fit into the ETS and the costs of eradicating wildings.
We will travel back to Tekapo for a dinner followed by the trip back to Timaru.
Monday 3 April – Geraldine trip
On our last day we will travel to Geraldine. On our way we will visit Flaxburn, a 146 ha dairy farm to see how riparian plantings have been utilised to improve water quality.
Next stop is the Port Blakely Ltd forest at Te Moana. As part of the tour we will observe a harvesting operation, hear about chipping and wood for fuel, as well as how SNA’s/NES-PF regulations impact on forestry.
The closing dinner will be held at the stunning Hilton View.
2023 NZFFA Conference Handbook
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