Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 80, April 2015
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 New Zealand Farm Forestry Association |
NZFFA P.O. Box 10349 The Terrace Wellington 6143 www.nzffa.org.nz
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| April 2015 No. 80 | |||||
Proposed National Environmental Standard Future Harvesting and logistics Research NZ dragging its heels on committing to carbon cuts NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards 2015 Adhesives and insulating foams from softwood bark tannins
Executive
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Latest headlinesGrowing Confidence in Forestry's Future (GCFF) Research Programme: What science is the forest levy providing farm foresters? At the recent GCFF conference a wide array of results with direct relevance to farm foresters were presented by the scientists working in this levy funded programme. Around 50% of the Forest Grower Levy is used to support research that improves the productivity, safety and ecological sustainability of New Zealand’s planted forests. As well as national level assessments to guide the entire sector, information about management practices that could be used at any level of operation was also provided. This included results from trials into soil stimulants that improve nutrient availability, selection of nursery stock that has been enhanced with beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, and new systems to get the most value from your trees by improving quality assessments on the skid site. The environmental impacts of forest management and the non-timber value that trees provide is also a focus of this programme. The results of long-term studies were presented, showing the benefits of retaining harvesting slash on site for the growth of the next rotation and the critical importance of retaining topsoil to maintain productivity. Lastly, new data clearly identifying the other financial benefits that forests provide in terms of avoided erosion, carbon capture, water regulation and the protection of biodiversity were provided. Presentations were also given by international experts and local government to provide outside perspective on the research Scion is conducting to improve forest productivity while reducing the negative ecological impacts of forest management. 2015 conference presentations: The 2nd Annual GCFF conference – '1st glimpse at results’ was held on 24-25 March 2015, at Hagley Oval Pavilion, Christchurch. Presentations from the conference are available to download from the website>> Scion - Diverse forests, emerging opportunities, Issue 3:
Research at Scion - The changing face of forest monitoring: Preliminary results demonstrate the potential for unmanned aerial vehicles to greatly improve our understanding of the health and productivity of New Zealand forests. The sight of drones flying over New Zealand forests… more>> Events
NZFFA Conference 2015 - Trees from Coast to Coast. Conference is next week! Some Conference speakers on the Monday afternoon, starting at 12.30: Warren Parker, CEO Scion; “Forestry in New Zealand a world view, potentials, opportunities, and threats”. David Rhodes, CEO NZFOA; “ Forest politics, the FOA/FFA partnership, the forest growers levy, ETS, and the workings of the forest industry”Russell Dale, R&D manager FOA/FFA research committee; “Forest research under a forest growers levy” Aoife Martin, Director Forestry and Land Operations, MPI; “ update on government policies and the National Environment Standard process”Late registrations may be accepted, please contact Wilma, 09 4347725.
Other upcoming events:
Proposed National Environmental StandardMPI have produced a discussion document in which they have taken into account the major points from our feedback from the workshops and written input and adjusted the proposed NES. MPI's process from here is that they will report back to Cabinet at the end of April with the proposed NES seeking approval to undertake formal consultation on the NES for plantation forestry. If Cabinet agree, then the formal consultation process will commence. Future Harvesting and logistics ResearchClick here for the report on the Research Forum on Future Harvesting and Logistics Research held in Balclutha on Wednesday 18th March, 2015. This includes:
NZ dragging its heels on committing to carbon cutsRussia did it. The United States did it. All the countries in the European Union have done it, as have Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and Latvia. Even oil-and-mineral-exporting Gabon, population 1.3 million, did it. But New Zealand did not. What? Meet the deadline to submit details of its 2030 emissions reduction target – known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions in the latest United Nations parlance. The new approach to tackling climate change on a global scale, agreed upon at negotiations in Lima last year, requires all countries – including developing nations which were exempted under the Kyoto Protocol from setting emissions reduction targets – to “communicate” their post-2020 emissions reduction targets before negotiations in Paris in December.This poses a big problem for New Zealand. Treasury has told the Government that it expects this country to have a serious carbon deficit by 2030, so making cuts will require policy changes that the Government is not keen to make. It might, for example, be forced to include agriculture – responsible for nearly half of New Zealand’s annual greenhouse gas emissions – in the Emissions Trading Scheme, a move it perceives as being politically unpopular. That’s because at the moment, the only real way of significantly reducing biological greenhouse gas emissions is by less-intensive farming. With dairy farming intensification driving the economy over recent years, that would have serious economic implications that the Government doesn’t want to have to deal with.During the Kyoto Protocol years, when only developed or “Annex 1” countries were required to make emissions cuts, New Zealand got away with excluding agriculture from its climate change action plans because it was the only developed country with such a heavy contribution of agriculture in its emissions profile, and argued that targeting agriculture would lead to a reduced global food supply. But with other countries, such as Mexico, with high levels of agricultural emissions in their profile now stepping up to the plate, exempting agriculture from New Zealand’s commitments will become increasingly difficult. The UN had asked countries to submit their INDCs (their commitments) by the end of March. Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has said that New Zealand’s target will be submitted before the Paris talks.Source: Carbon News 2015 NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards 2015 - Stage One Entries OpenEnter Now - Entry Form click here >> Showcase your examples of timber design excellence. This is New Zealand’s only Timber Design award event and allows engineers, architects, architectural designers and builders to showcase innovation using timber. NZFFA is sponsoring the NZ Indigenous and Specialty Timber Award. One of the two new categories "Excellence in Engineered Wood Products" has been added to the award categories, due to growth of engineered timber buildings in New Zealand. The second NZ Wood new award is "Novel Application of Wood Award" for using new wood products or systems in a manner that characterises its unique features. You will also notice that "Exterior Innovation" has incorporated "Infrastructure" to the category FIRST STAGE ENTRIES FOR ALL CATEGORIES CLOSE 5PM, FRIDAY 8TH MAY 2015 Adhesives and insulating foams from softwood bark tanninsIn collaboration with its partners, VTT developed tannin extraction from softwood bark as part of an ERA-NET project. At least 130 kg of crude tannin powder can be produced from one tonne of dry wood bark, still leaving 87% of the original bark mass available for incineration. In Finland, tannin could replace, in particular, fossil-based phenols in adhesives used in the wood products industry. Hundreds of tonnes of tannin is produced from wood materials and wood bark for the needs of leather, beverage and animal feed industry in South America and South Africa in particular. However, the supply of the main sources of tannin, acacia and quebracho trees, is not sufficient to satisfy the increasing industrial demand for tannin. In industrial use, tannin could be used to replace fossil chemicals in adhesives and insulating foams. In Finland, softwood bark tannins would be well suited for adhesive production for the manufacturing of wood products at sawmills. It could also enhance the fire resistance of insulating foams.As part of the international ERA-NET project, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd developed, in collaboration with its partners, a tannin extraction process from bark material generated as a by-product in the paper and wood industry to give added value to the fraction currently used for incineration. The extraction process is quite simple: tannin can be extracted from bark using hot water, after which the extract is dried into a powder. Drying the water extract into powder may not be necessary if the tannin is extracted near the site where glued wood products are manufactured. One tonne of dry wood bark yields at least 130 kg of tannin powder, leaving 87% of the original bark mass available for incineration.The market price per kilo of tannin extracted from present raw material sources is approximately 1-2 euros. The market price per kilo of phenol is has varied recently from 0.8 to 1.4 euros. For more information check out the latest issue of R&D Works From Friday Offcuts
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