Tougher controls on carbon farming outlined in discussion paper

Plantation pines. File photo / RNZ - Kate Newton

RNZ

A discussion document is calling for tougher controls on carbon farming to address the loss of productive sheep and beef farmland.

The green paper was written by former Hastings mayor and National MP Lawrence Yule, with funding support from 16 councils, farming group Beef + Lamb NZ and Local Government New Zealand.

The paper outlined four key themes that need to be addressed: land prices and market forces; the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and its settings; carbon farming regimes; and mechanisms to control both the scale and location of plantings, Yule said.

It also set out a range of policy areas for further urgent investigation that could address the situation, including the Overseas Investment Office, the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Resource Management Act.

New Zealand had relied heavily on carbon sequestration through plantation forestry to meet its emissions reduction targets rather than actually reducing gross emissions, Yule said.

"Currently, increasing carbon prices in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme means carbon farming coupled with plantation forestry is in the short-term significantly more profitable than sheep and beef cattle farming."

The paper outlined the real risk that short-term land-use decisions would be made to the detriment of long-term land-use flexibility, rural communities and export returns, he said.

"There is little national guidance to help local authorities stop swathes of productive sheep, beef and wool producing farmland being converted to forestry, as the ETS currently allows 100 per cent of fossil fuel emissions to be offset through forestry and councils currently have no available tools to place controls on the planting of trees."

The document has been released ahead of a workshop next month involving stakeholders including Forestry Minister Stuart Nash, councils, and farming and forestry interest groups.

Beef + Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor said the green paper would play an important role in shaping future policy.

"While we welcome the government's signals that it is considering policy changes to address the wholesale conversion of sheep and beef farmland into carbon farming, the Government action has been too slow, the time to act is now."

- RNZ