This email was sent to farmers on 2 July 2025.
We need your voice to influence the legislation that will place limits on whole-farm conversions to forestry.
The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme – Forestry) Amendment Bill has passed its first reading and has gone to Parliament’s Environment Committee for consultation. Full details are on Parliament’s website here.
The timeframe is very short – submissions will only be accepted until 9am Monday 7 July 2025 – so the louder the voice, the more likely we are to get changes.
B+LNZ’s view – changes needed
The wholesale conversion of sheep and beef farmland to carbon farming – incentivised by policy settings – is having a devastating effect on our sector (including on rural communities, schools and businesses, and on things like pest control – and ultimately on New Zealand’s economy) so we welcome any measures to address this issue. We’ve been calling for action on whole-farm sales since 2019.
While we support the intent of the legislation, we’ll be seeking important changes. We have two major areas of concern about the legislation:
1. The ‘temporary exemptions’ allowing forestry entities to enter farmland into the ETS that was converted after the changes were announced on 4 December 2024 are too flexible and need to be tightened.
When the limits were announced in December 2024, the Government said the new rules would apply from 4 December 2024, unless there was a “clear” intent for conversion before that date, and that any exemptions would be for “rare” instances.
B+LNZ is hearing from many farmers who know of farms that have been sold to entities this year intending to take advantage of the current loose rules.
2. The restrictions on land classes relating to whole farm conversions that can be entered into the ETS do not go far enough.
We support the integration of trees within farms – the legislation currently allows for up to 25 percent of a farm to be converted to forestry for entry into the ETS – that allows for a balance between environment objectives with productivity. Our concern has instead always been with whole-farm sales.
We’re concerned the restrictions in the legislation, especially the quota on land class 6 (15,000 hectares per year), will not sufficiently restrict the volume of whole farm sales for conversion. We’ve therefore strengthened our position and are calling for the moratorium on whole-farm conversions being entered into the ETS to be extended to all land classes, or at least land class 6.
However we support the continuation of the within-farm 25 percent exemption to apply to all land classes.
What we need from you
We’re really keen for farmers to make a submission to the Committee.
We’ve made it easy for you, with a prewritten submission template that reflects the above views, which you can edit or add to as you like.
Remember to send submissions before 9am Monday 7 July.
Thank you for your time on this hugely important issue. We’ll keep you updated.