Claim too late for farm-to-forestry ban
The farm-to-forest ban passed its first reading last week but a Southland Federated Farmers executive says it is too late, the damage has been done and is continuing.
Executive member and farmer Dean Rabbidge said since the ban's announcement on December 4, there had been a rush to convert arable land into forests.
"If anything, we've only seen an acceleration of it since December 4 with people knowing that this is their last chance," he said.
The sheep, beef and dairy farmer said after pulling pines out of his own property he had realised the damage the conifers did to the soil.
"It's taking a lot of work to get it back into productive land through fertiliser and seed and stuff," he said.
Pine needles were quite toxic and did not let anything else grow, he said. The farms that had been converted to forestry would have had soil that was at the optimum level for animal health and pasture production, he said.
"[The soil] has been cared for and looked after for maximum food production values, and now we're just planting it in pine trees."
The ban, or the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme — Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill, will include exemptions.
After the first reading, Minister for Agriculture Todd McClay said investors who were able to prove intent to afforest between January 2021 and December 4 would be exempt from the ban.
This exemption, which was part of the December 4 announcement, was clarified by the minister.
Mr McClay said the combination of buying land and ordering of trees prior to December 4 would be an example of proof of a qualifying investment.
He said each of these actions alone would not.
This exemption has been a source of confusion for concerned farmers, who have said the grey area of "evidence of intent" opened up a loophole that has been exploited.
Mr Rabbidge said the grey area remained and his organisation would continue to hold government ministers to account over this issue.
"There's still been some very, very questionable land purchases go on recently under the guise of, hey, we had seedlings ordered — that was their intent to plant.
"We're still going to keep the pressure on the government to make sure that all the loopholes are closed."
The Wyndham farmer said the rapid conversion was visible to those living rurally, but it would take a while for urban residents to recognise the effect.
"It's far too late, but people are finally waking up to the damage that forestry, both production and carbon, is doing to the rural sector."
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