19 Oct: 11:15 |  A government scheme giving away mānuka seedlings could threaten future earnings from the trees according to botanists who say enthusiasm for planting is getting ahead of scientific understanding.

Unitec associate professor Peter de Lange has been researching New Zealand mānuka and suspects there are at least three different types of mānuka in New Zealand, each with possible different properties.

“Mānuka honey as an industry is going to make us quite a lot of money but in fact there are chemical compounds, essential oils in particular, that are way, way more valuable than mānuka honey.”

De Lange said the safest way to ensure qualities are kept is to only plant mānuka where the seeds have been “eco-sourced”. Eco-sourcing means seeds have been sourced from the same area as where seedlings will be planted.

Read more . . .>

The Forest Owners Association has today launched a series of 28 Forest Practice Guides.

27 Sep:20:09| New Zealand's export log market took a hit from the trade dispute between the US and China as the declining value of the yuan crimps the buying power of the country's largest log market

LINX Cargo Care Group, and its subsidiary C3 Limited, announced today that it has been successful in its bid to acquire Pedersen Group, a market leading provider of wood chipping and woodyard management services to pulp and paper mills, and forest owners in Australia and New Zealand.

SYDNEY & DUNEDIN, New Zealand & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 9, 2018--Forestry investment manager New Forests is pleased to announce its Australia New Zealand Forest Fund 2 (ANZFF2) has acquired a 38% shareholding in Wenita Forest Products Ltd (Wenita) and full ownership of the Otago Land Company, which holds 22,500 hectares of freehold land on which Wenita operates via forestry rights. New Forests is acquiring the assets from The Rohatyn Group (TRG), a specialised asset management firm with expertise in emerging markets and real assets, which first purchased the Wenita shareholding in 2005 in a joint venture with Chinese logistics company Sinotrans and 100% of the OLC land in 2006.

The New Zealand Institute of Forestry proposed the introduction of a new national policy for the industry at the sector’s annual conference in an effort to help the government “develop sound long-term strategies for forestry development."

New national rules governing plantation forestry are in some cases weaker than district rules, causing concern for communities living close to erosion-prone land. Farah Hancock reports for Newsroom.

Contractual obligations making it hard for forestry owners to pull out of the East Coast could leave farmers stuck with the hill plantations that have led to massive damage.

New Zealand exported a record volume of softwood logs in March, as shipments to most major markets increased, with further strength forecast through the rest of the year, according to AgriHQ, NZX's agricultural analysis business

Concerns that there may not be enough wood fibre to supply a new $180 million particleboard plant proposed for Kawerau have been quashed by an industry study which concludes "there is more than enough wood available" although it notes the increased demand