Forest Owners Association, Federated Farmers clash over carbon farming issues

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Foreign investors can't buy New Zealand farmland for carbon farming, Forest Owners Association communications manager Don Carson says.

Carson disagreed with a Federated Farmers' press release, which claimed that the Overseas Investment Act's special forestry test was unfair to New Zealand's sheep and beef farmers.

The policy made it much easier for foreign investors to purchase New Zealand farms to convert to trees, Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman William Beetham said in the statement.

"[It] is one of many distortionary policies that are advantaging carbon farming over other land uses such as sheep and beef farming."

This was incorrect, according to Carson, who told The Country's Jamie Mackay it was "all very sad".

"The reality of it is that you cannot get an application through. It's prohibited under the rules.

"If you're an overseas investor you cannot invest in carbon farming and the monitoring and enforcement of that is both through the Resource Management Act and also the Overseas Investment Act."

However, it was possible for an overseas buyer to purchase land for production forestry, although this type of investment wasn't "huge" in New Zealand, Carson said.

"In fact, if you have a look in the investment in both dairy and meat processing, [there's a] much larger overseas investment than is ever the case in New Zealand plantation forestry under the new rules."

Feds also claimed the special forestry test suggested planted trees would eventually be logged "but there is no mechanism to ensure this actually happens, nor even any rules to ensure that pruning or pest control is done."

Carson said pruning trees was "a commercial choice".

"Almost two-thirds of New Zealand's production forestry is not pruned because it's too expensive in consideration of the extra money that you will get for cleared timber.

"For Feds to say that there are no rules around it would be the equivalent, in my view, of the Government telling farmers they should get rid of their sheep and they should all run cattle."

Meanwhile, the Climate Change Commission has recommended to the Government that 380,000 hectares of production forest has to be planted by 2035 to meet New Zealand's greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Forest Owners Association communications manager Don Carson. Photo / Supplied

Carson said continued restrictions on "who is allowed to plant what" meant there was a danger of not reaching this goal – and not just for commercial operations.

"That applies to farmers planting woodlots as well if it's going to be more than 50 hectares.

"So, if there's going to be those so-called productive land restrictions, a restriction on overseas investment in forestry, then there is that great risk that we will not get to that 380,000 hectares and farmers will be denied the opportunity to plant as they wish."

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Although Feds and the Forest Owners Association were at loggerheads over foreign ownership, there was one issue they could agree on, Carson said.

While planting unproductive farming land in trees to sequester carbon "made absolutely great sense", both groups had concerns about the potential risks of this practice, Carson said.

"Just untrammelled, unruled carbon forestry with no attention or management given to it does present pests and disease and fire risks - and we would hold hands with Feds on that one."