This episode featured as part of the Real Estate segment in partnership with Bayleys Rural.

Groundtruth Managing Director Peter Hanford says sheep and beef farmers who move 10% to 30% of their land into radiata pine can lift their overall farm profitability under the current ETS.

His modelling takes the difficult country that carries the least stock and puts it into trees.

“You can generally take some areas out without having much impact on the overall production of the farm,” he says.

He says returns depend entirely on management.

“If a forest that’s well managed has been thoughtfully planted, then that might make $30,000 a hectare in certain situations, whereas another one that has been untended and poorly managed might struggle to break even.”

Hanford says the export market sets the log price, so growers are not vulnerable to local mill closures.

This is brought to you in partnership with Bayleys Country. To learn more about rural and lifestyle property opportunities, or to connect with a local expert, visit bayleys.co.nz/country 

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.