Middle NZ: Soon we won't be able to see the sheep for the trees

Forestry is taking over our productive farm land. Photo / NZME

If we are not very careful we won't be able to see the beef and sheep for the trees.

A huge amount of our sheep and beef farmland is being sold, mostly to overseas investors, for conversion to forestry.

I'm not going to pretend I know all about carbon forestry or carbon credits. What I do know is that you can't eat wood.

I also know that farmers have been getting a hard time for a long time about their carbon emissions and I don't blame them one bit for selling their land to the highest bidder.

After years of working the land pretty much 24 hours a day in the sunshine to storms and everything in between, watching their animals die and their land either in flood or drought, they deserve top dollar.

An independent report in August last year said " a significant amount of sheep and beef farmland has been converted to forestry, underlining the need for limits on carbon offsetting."

I Googled carbon forestry: This is what it said: How do forests create carbon credits?

Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their trunks, branches, leaves and roots. The amount of carbon stored in a forest depends on species, stocking, site conditions such as soil and rainfall, and how long the forest is left to grow.

Okay. So if you plant your land in trees you end up with credits.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.

At this stage farmers are exempt from the Emissions Trading Scheme until 2025. I know climate change is a worry for all of us and yes farmers have a responsibility to do their part, but I honestly can't see how selling off so much of New Zealand's productive land to forestry is going to help us in the long run.

For a start, most of that forestry won't be ready to harvest for 30 years. Imagine the pollen problem then.

Trees pretty much look after themselves so while in 30 years there will be lots of forestry work, the farming settlements around the country will be all but empty because farm workers will move into town to find work.

I also think it's going to make a huge difference to the way we eat. The Sunday roast is just about a thing of the past.

Will beef and lamb go the same way for the majority of Kiwis? Will it be so scarce that what is available will be only for the very rich?

In November last year a CHB farmer said swathes of East Coast sheep and beef land was being lost to carbon farming and he should know as he'd just sold his own farm.

Although he would prefer to sell to a farmer, he said the best option for his family was to let the "forestry guys" have the first look.

In May this year Dutch company Ingka Investments Forest Assets NZ Ltd purchased Stoneridge Farm, a sheep and beef breeding operation on Old Hill Rd Porangahau.

Apparently the government is reviewing the test but in the meantime the sales go on.

The two farms I have mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg.

We need our farmers, our orchardists, our market gardeners and we need to teach everybody the importance of looking after our environment.

If farmers have to pay emissions then so should people that buy junk that ends up in the landfill. That's why it costs to dump your rubbish and I imagine it will keep on increasing as dumping land becomes more and more scarce.

Perhaps the Government should be more inclusive when it comes to climate change.
Everyone needs to do their bit.

That doesn't mean the Government pays for people to have worm farms or compost bins.
It means we all need to take responsibility for ourselves and our purchases and our rubbish.

Perhaps that might just help our farmers stay on the land.

• Linda Hall is Hawke's Bay Today assistant editor