Trees and warming

Planting of trees – particularly exotic pine trees – for the negating of global warming is part of a fashionable belief in New Zealand at the moment.

Farmers are watching thousands of hectares of good food-producing land being lost to trees and at COP27 world agriculture is questioning New Zealand’s attitude when world food production is down 10%.

Having planted some pine trees 30 years ago and having recently done harvesting, I make the following prediction: post-harvesting, and having seen the deposited trash, the damage to – and cost of repairing – existing infrastructure, the looming taxation account, the cost of clearing the site for replanting (assuming that on the hills such is even possible, or wanted), the

disruption to farm operations which occurred and the spread of wilding pines, there will then be some very unhappy people doubting if it was even worth doing.

John Martin, Manakau