Reading Time: 4 minutes The farm next door to Dean Rabbidge’s Wyndham farm is about to be planted fence-to-fence in pine trees – and he’s absolutely gutted. “I just don’t understand how these whole-farm conversions to forestry are still happening,” the Federated Farmers Southland meat and wool chair says. “The Prime Minister stood up in front of hundreds of local farmers in Gore at the Restoring Farmer Confidence Tour last December saying they were going to stop this happening. “He was very clear on his intent, and we absolutely back it, but that intent doesn’t line up with what we’re seeing on the ground. “We still seem to have some landowners and buyers pushing the envelope on the ‘intention to plant a forest’ exception criteria, chasing those carbon returns.” Rabbidge says Wyndham district already has a serious problem with feral pigs and deer. “With pines being planted, I’ve now got a 2000ha pest nursery going in next door. Most forestry guys don’t give a s*** about dealing with feral animals. “But what’s worse is that with more forestry on food-producing land, even if it’s production forestry, it will mean fewer jobs in our local community. “We saw it here in the ’90s: schools closed, towns dwindled, rugby clubs folded – and we just don’t want it.” Federated Farmers meat and wool chair Toby Williams says questions around landowners’ pre-December planting intentions are sprouting in several districts. “There’s a grey area causing concern and I’m copping a lot of phone calls from frustrated farmers. “Everybody needs clarity about what burden of proof is required to satisfy ‘intent to afforest’ criteria,” Williams says. At the Southland event in December, the Government announced a three-year moratorium on full-farm conversions to exotic forest being registered in the ETS on classes 1 to 5 farmland. Only 15,000 hectares of class 6 farmland for exotic forest can gain ETS registration each year, allocated ‘first come, first served’. Under the new rules, farmers can still plant up to 25% of their farm in forestry that can be ETS-registered. There is still scope for landowners currently in the process of afforestation who can ‘demonstrate an intent to afforest prior to 4 December 2024’ to register in the ETS. Just what ‘demonstrating intent’ looks like is what is causing Federated Farmers concern. MPI says a landowner must provide evidence of afforestation intention dated before 4 December 2024, such as a land purchase agreement, or seedling order. “Federated Farmers 100% backs the Government’s decision to draw a line in the sand from 4 December 2024,” Williams says. “The decision should stop the relentless march of pines over prime farmland but leave farmers with flexibility to put up to 25% of their land in trees under the ETS. “If someone is going to use that ‘intent to plant’ loophole to plant a farm, they should need concrete proof rigorously checked by MPI,” Williams says. “It should need to stand up to intense scrutiny, with a paper trail and digital footprint that can be audited, showing clear intent to not only plant but to enter the ETS.” Devastated Gisborne locals recently learned the 1760ha, 16,000 stock unit Waipaoa Station will go into pines. “That farm went through the Overseas Investment Office approval for sale process and was turned down. “Now the owners say they’re going to put it into forestry themselves for 100% carbon with the intention selling it to offshore buyers,” Williams says. Duff Farms, adjacent to Rabbidge’s farm, has only recently been sold. “There was never any indication it would go into trees. Then out of the blue last month, it was sold to IFS Growth, a specialist forestry company,” Rabbidge says. “They’re big enough to basically have a monopoly on all the seedling trees in Southland and they’re claiming that’s enough to prove their ‘intent’ with Duff Farms.” Rabbidge says if it’s going to be a production forest, with no ETS claim beyond 25%, then it’s within the new rules and he’ll have to live with it. “But with a purchase price of around $22 million, the economics just don’t stack up. I can’t see how it could possibly be viable without carbon revenue.” Local farmers were already dismayed that Glen Islay, a 60,000-stock unit dairy, beef and cropping farm on the Hokonui hills, sold last year and is also to be planted out. “The Duff Farms sale is just another kick in the guts for our sheep and beef sector, with 17,000 stock units gone,” Rabbidge says. “I was talking to the local shearing contractor, and he’s lost 10% of his work. The crutching guy is down 10%. It’s starting to hit everyone from tailing contractors to transporters. “The effects are massive for a small town like Wyndham, and this is happening all over New Zealand.” Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online. Farmers Weekly Poll: Is the Government doing enough to stop whole-farm conversions to forestry? Visit the Farmers Weekly Poll page to participate in our latest poll.