Forestry

The rising price of the Aotearoa New Zealand Carbon Units (NZUs) along with the lack of regulations around permanent exotic carbon forestry, have further contributed to planting more exotic forests on productive land. Previously the same land would have been too valuable to be considered for forestry.

For farmers to measure and manage their carbon footprints there must be a robust system in place to calculate not only their carbon dioxide emissions, but also their carbon dioxide sequestration potential. This research report will focus on answering the question of; what is the carbon sequestration potential of indigenous woody vegetation on New Zealand farmland and how can it be used to more accurately model on-farm carbon footprints?

The purpose of this report is to understand the ongoing factors and importance carbon farming has in New Zealand agriculture now but more so in the future. To understand the opportunities farmers have in making a more profitable business and farming more sustainably through planting trees in low productive land. Forestry plantings are driven by farmers for many reasons. These include reducing carbon, utilising unproductive land, additional avenues of income, and helping with succession. These opportunities are not just limited to farmers utilising land for off-setting carbon. On a larger scale the commercial sector are actively looking to off-set their main business in carbon for example Air New Zealand, Contact, Genesis & Z are in partnership, who are trying to convert on marginal productive land.