The highly anticipated opening of Swedish furniture company IKEA in New Zealand comes as a rural community worries about the fire risk from pine plantations.
Since 2020 IKEA has converted six Central Hawke's Bay farms into pine forestry, which they believe makes them the largest forestry owner in the district.
Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
This move, combined with the sale of at least four other Hawke's Bay farms to overseas forestry companies this year, is sparking concerns from locals about the loss of productive farmland and the risks associated with converting large areas into pines.
'Dumbest thing NZ has done in agriculture'
To better understand the scale of this land-use change, Porangahau farmer James Hunter and pilot Joe Faram flew RNZ over thousands of hectares of new pine trees that now cover what had been traditional farmland for generations.
"This is the dumbest thing New Zealand has done in agriculture," Hunter said.
He wants New Zealanders to witness the extent of farmland being planted in forestry.
"It's not just one farm, it's farm after farm and I think it's the scale of it that people don't understand.
"Suddenly we've got a district that's been swallowed, and this is apparently good for the country," he said.
Photo: Nick Monro
More than 1.8 million hectares of New Zealand is planted in pine trees with many farms having been converted since 2008 to earn carbon credits after the Emissions Trading Scheme was introduced.
This resulted in more 'carbon farming' where forests are planted for carbon credits and permanently locked up rather than being harvested for timber.
Swedish furniture company IKEA has bought 28,000 hectares of New Zealand farmland since 2021, with another 10,000 currently pending approval in Northland.
However, IKEA told RNZ none of its trees have been planted for carbon credits, although they may look at 'some form
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