Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton says carbon farming is impacting rural communities - can all sectors work together?

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton says 10,000 hectares of good hill country land around Taumaranui have been sold to corporate forestry interests in recent months.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton says rural communities are fearing for their future thanks to the rapid rise of carbon farming in his district.

But a forestry chief executive is convinced all farming sectors can co-exist and collaborate.

Kirton said last week that the loss of significant areas of productive land to carbon farms had flow-on impacts such as the loss of skills, employment, economic activity and community identity, along with negative environmental outcomes.

“In my local area around Taumarunui, around 10,000 hectares of good hill country, including three large stations, have been signed up for sale to corporate forestry interests in recent months, in addition to several thousand hectares of previously converted hill country farms,” Kirton said.

He said there should be a differential rating system for carbon farms and councils should have the ability to oppose farm conversions where they exceed certain thresholds.

Tāmata Hauhā founder and chief executive Blair Jamieson said farmers didn’t have to choose one or the other when it came to the use of land.

His company, founded in 2021, works primarily with Māori landowners to develop their land holdings and make them more productive, primarily through forestry.

It should be “and-and” as opposed to “either-or”, he said.

“A really good example is partners we have who are dairy farming and in the ETS [Emissions Trading Scheme] in the same block.

“They are farming under a forestry canopy, earning more money and employing more people.

“I think some comments out there are very one-dimensional and don’t actually understand how the ETS can be applied.”

The majority of the ETS was on marginal, low-production land - classes six and seven, Jamieson said.

“Typically, it’s land that should never have been taken out of forestry in the first place.

“Carbon isn’t an attractive option for classes one to three. I can do high-value cropping of willow for bioplastics and earn four or five times more.

“A dairy farmer can earn five to six grand per hectare per year. With carbon forestry, you’d be lucky to do two.”

Blair Jamieson says it should be “and-and” not “either-or” when it comes to the use of farmland. Photo / Bevan Conley

Federated Farmers Ruapehu vice-chairman Luke Pepper said companies used carbon farming as a way to offset emissions.

“They can still pollute with planes and cars, but they’re offsetting it by planting some trees in Ruapehu.

“I know some people who have sold their land to carbon, and I certainly don’t begrudge them for it. They [carbon farmers] pay the most. It’s near double what any other farmer can afford.”

Rural mechanics, transport agencies and schools would all be affected by the selling of farmland, Pepper said.

“A company might go from 12 to 10 trucks over the next year or two because there just isn’t the work for them.

“Then, those drivers will leave town. It’s a real trickle-down effect.”

Turoa Alpine Ltd is one of four bidders in the running to buy the Tūroa ski field on Mt Ruapehu.

The group is being led by John Sandford, who has mapped out a regenerative strategy as part of its proposal.

It has a goal of reducing the company’s carbon footprint to net zero by 2029.

Carbon farming isn’t part of the plan.

Sandford, a former board member of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, said it was far better to invest in the natural biodiversity in New Zealand.

“By natural, I mainly mean native forests. This is really small bikkies, but even tusk land has a carbon sync value.

“As a business, Tūroa Alpine is digging right into the regenerative sphere, not just sustainability. We’ve got to get past that.”

Kirton said while there was no doubt reducing carbon emissions was essential to combat climate change, New Zealand needed solutions that were not at the expense of hill country farmers and rural communities.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton.

He was not opposed to carbon farming as a whole.

“Rural councils want to see Government policy or legislative change to enable us to manage this risk at a local council level.

“In the interim, we are urging carbon farmers to work with the local council to find solutions that benefit everyone.”

Jamieson agreed that foreign ownership of farms needed to stop.

“We have New Zealand entities and New Zealand groups who are able to support farmers in rural communities, such as ourselves, for example.

“At the moment, maybe farmers think the only way to make some money is to sell to an overseas group. Actually, there are groups here that will do it with you.”

Government legislation had made the farming industry very hard and people needed to find ways to survive, he said.

Selling to overseas investors wasn’t the best way to do that.

“The question should be, ‘How do we support farmers domestically?’ That’s where we come from.”

Good business was always about collaboration, not competition, Sandford said.

“We need to think more widely about how we can create carbon credits, to the benefit of us all.

“In terms of ‘Big Carbon’, to them, there’s an easy solution. They just write out a cheque every month to a [carbon farming] outfit and it’s all done and dusted.

“What’s worse is when people write out a cheque for someone overseas. We are actually exporting carbon credits. To me, that’s nonsense, frankly, but it’s allowed to happen.”