Notices
Forest Growers Levy Trust Notification of Levy Rate 2019
The Forest Growers Levy Trust (FGLT) have approved a levy of 27 cents per cubic metre for the 2019 calendar year for the Harvested Wood Products Commodity Levy.
This is unchanged from the current year. More »
Call for Nominations for Farm Forestry Awards 2019
Nominations can be submitted to NZFFA National office at any time, but must be received by 22 January 2019 (to allow time for judging) to be eligible for presentation at the Rotorua Conference May 2019. Nominations received after 22 January will be held over for judging for a subsequent Conference. Note that nominations are submitted by branches, and so if you know of a worthy recipient, contact your branch officers. Nomination forms are available on the NZFFA website or may be requested from National Office.
Husqvarna Farm Forester of the Year North Island and South Island. Our two prestigious awards for farm forestry achievement. Prizes are a Husqvarna chainsaw and custody of the engraved plaque for a year. Recipients must be present at Conference. Judging criteria include personal effort in tree planting and results, service to community, depth and spread of knowledge, and service to NZFFA.
NZ Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry. Awarded by NZ Landcare Trust for innovation as in the title. Prize is $2,000. Usually awarded to a recipient residing in the same island as the Conference is being held (to facilitate the recipient being able to attend to receive the prize).
Michael Hay Memorial Award. Awarded by the Michael Hay Trust to a younger farm forester who is actively planting trees. Prize is $5,000 to be spent on further plantings. The award is judged by an independent panel and the initial assessment is on a desktop basis – hence the importance of descriptive documentation and photographs in support of the nomination.
Changes to Conference programme
Please note that changes have been made to the NZFFA Conference programme, an additional day has been added for Action Group meetings on Wednesday 15th May and the National Council meeting will commence at 9:00am on Thursday 16th May. More >>
For more information on these events, they are posted on the NZFFA website >>
Branch secretaries, please make sure you notify head office of any branch or action group events.
- Southland branch field day When: Thursday December 13th. Where: Upper Mataura Valley Field Day. Meet at the Fairlight Railway Station at 11.00am, Bring your lunch. Finish around 3.00pm Over the years we have had a few…
- Southland branch field day Christmas/New Year trip When: Friday 28th December Where: Meet at the Alex McKenzie Arboretum, Otautau at 10am 2193 Riverton-Otautau Rd, Otautau Bring your lunch and picnic chairs
- 2019 Biosecurity Conference Where: Scion (Rimu Room) When: March 5-6 Theme: operational biosecurity
- Too understood to merit a mention? John Purey-Cust Ponders, December, 2018. In my present abode I don’t see much of trees, but a few days ago I had a chance for a short walk under my beech plantings. Now over 20…
NZFFA members can set up their own blogs on the NZFFA website. Email Dean.
Genetics
- New Genetic Technologies (incl Sterility) - Charleson Poovaiah, Scion
- Radiata Pine Breeding Company Update - Brent Guild, CEO
- What has Genetic Improvement delivered - John Moore / Heidi Dungey, Scion
GCFF - What have we learnt to date
- Summary of outcomes fromm this programme to date
- Phenotyping Platform
- Nursery and Seedling Management
- Nutrient Balance Model (NuBaLM)
Forest Growers Levy Trust Update
- Forest Growers Levy including 2019 Levy Referendum
- Promotions Activities
FGLT Programme Updates
- Biosecurity
- Health and Safety
- Training and Careers
- Small Medium Enterprises
- What does the future hold?
Small Growers Focussed Research
- Redwoods - Simon Rapley, NZ Redwood Company
- Specialty Species Programme - Marco Lausberg, FGR Ltd
- Small Grower Inventory - Jonathan Dash, Scion
- Harvesting Hydraulic Quick Coupler - Keith Raymond, FGR Ltd
Needle Disease/Phytophthora
- Red Needle Cast Overview - Mike Baker, Hancock
- Management of Red Needle Cast - Stuart Fraser, Scion
- Breeding for Disease Resistance - Natalie Graham, Scion
- Satellite RNC Monitoring - Grant Pearse, Scion
- Disease Modelling - Ralf Gommers, Scion
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Farmers will be able to access government grants to plant trees on their properties as part of a new fund.
Forestry Minister Shane Jones and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor on Friday launched the One Billion Trees Fund, part of the government's plan to plant at least one billion trees by 2028, on Warrick and CeCe James' farm in the Malvern Hills.
Led by Te Uru Rākau – Forestry New Zealand, the fund has two types of grant with a combined total of $238 million.
The first are $118 million worth of direct landholder grants to go toward planting and establishing trees and native regeneration.
The grants are available to landowners or organisations that have the legal right to plant on the land and can maintain the planting project for a minimum period, typically about 10 years.
The amount of the grants vary depending on the type of planting planned.
For an indigenous mix of planting, such as native trees and shrubs, a base rate of $4000 a hectare will be available for between 1ha and 300ha, while for manuka or kanuka, particularly for erosion control or as a nurse crop for indigenous forest, $1800 a hectare is available for areas planted between 5ha and 300ha.
Indigenous natural regeneration, such as retiring land or managing a natural return to trees, has $1000 a hectare earmarked for areas between 5ha and 300ha, while there is also money available for exotic planting, such as eucalypts, redwood or pinus radiata to stabilise erosion-prone land. It has a base rate of $1500 a hectare for between 5ha and 300ha.
Top-ups for things such as fencing or ecological restoration are available with direct landholder grants.
The fund includes $120 million for partnership projects that aim to reduce the barriers to tree planting through innovation, research and sector development initiatives.
These are available for three years and will support projects that aim to reduce barriers to tree planting. Projects likely to be supported include labour and workforce development; advice and information for landowners; catchment-based or landscape scale tree planting and restoration projects to deliver better erosion control, freshwater quality and biodiversity; science and research; and seedlings and nursery production.
Partners will typically have to co-fund at least 50 per cent of commercial projects.
Jones said officials will monitor the rollout of the grants scheme to ensure the right tree went in the right place at the right time, and to ensure no one rorted the scheme.
O'Connor said detailed mapping work had been done around the country to identify places for planting and what could best be planted there.
James, whose farm has 1300ha in sheep and beef and another 520ha in pinus radiata and Douglas fir, said he hoped the scheme would encourage more farmers to put unproductive parts of their properties into trees. That could help control erosion and nutrient run-off, and provide a source of carbon dollars.
The fund brings the total for the One Billion Trees Programme, funded from the Provincial Growth Fund, to $480 million.
Source: Stuff, Nov 30th 2018
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Tenā koe,
Following recent public consultation, Forestry Minister Shane Jones and Acting Climate Change Minister Julie Anne Genter have announced the first tranche of changes to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS).
You can read the press release on the Beehive website.
The improvements will help future-proof the NZ ETS and support New Zealand's transition to a low-emissions and a climate-resilient economy. They will ensure the NZ ETS operates effectively and that participants benefit from increased regulatory predictability.
Details about the content of the changes are available on our website.
The Government expects to introduce legislation in late 2019 to implement these changes, following decisions on the second tranche of changes.
This announcement follows a thorough consultation process. Over 250 submissions were received from businesses and industry groups, councils, Māori and iwi, academics, individuals and community groups. These submissions have informed the changes to the NZ ETS.
You can read what submitters wrote, and view a briefing containing initial analysis of the submissions, on our website. A summary of submissions will be published early in 2019.
Ngā mihi nui,
NZ ETS consultation team
Manatu Mō Te Taiao – Ministry for the Environment
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| Disclaimer: Personal views expressed in this newsletter are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the NZ Farm Forestry Association. |
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