Tree trial looks at manuka alternative
A trial to find out if native rewarewa trees could become an alternative to manuka for honey production is under way in Taranaki.
Growing rewarewa trees specifically to harvest the honey would provide an alternative income for farmers using small areas of land, South Taranaki farmer and businessman Neil Walker said.
‘‘Rewarewa honey is one of New Zealand’s premier native honeys and retails at around $40-$45/kg,’’ Walker, who is a Taranaki Regional Councillor and an advocate for carbon farming, said.
‘‘Dairy farming is largely a onetrick pony where poor prices and droughts can put the farmer under immense stress both financially and emotionally.’’
He’s putting his theory to the test with a trial on the run off he owns with his wife Helen and their family near their Manutahi dairy farm, between Ha¯ wera and Pa¯ tea.
The trial, initially for five years, is being supported with a $43,407 grant from Callaghan Innovation, and they had also received a lot of support from Venture Taranaki.
A plantation of 500 trees could potentially support 100 hives, each of which could produce 25-30kg of honey.
‘‘Such a number of trees could probably be planted on 1.5-2 hectares,’’ he said.
‘‘With manuka you need 40ha to get enough bulk to get 70 per cent purity under the new rules.’’
This week, planting of 600 rewarewa trees has started in and around a gully which was unsuitable for grazing and had a swamp in its base.
‘‘This is a sloping paddock with a lot of gorse, it’s pretty marginal for the farm, but we are looking to create another industry here with a small footprint,’’ he said.
Similar terrain on the farm has already been protected by QEII covenants and behind the fences the natives growing there are flourishing. Walker, who is working with his son-in-law Daniele Maspani, said nobody else had tried planting the trees as forestry blocks, so they were experimenting.
Although they’re not sure if the trees will flourish on the windswept coastal block, the fact seedling rewarewa had popped up in a clearing close to the trial site was a good sign, Maspani said.
The trees, which were grown by a local nursery, are being planted in four different areas with varying conditions and amounts of wind protection.
Over the next five years they would learn the best spacing for the trees and their pruning, fertiliser and weed control needs.
The rewarewa trees, along with other native planting they were doing on the property, would also encourage more birdlife and provide shelter for the stock in adjacent paddocks.
There was also the possibility of harvesting the trees for timber eventually.
‘‘Everything is a new discovery,’’ Maspani said.