Seedling surplus could be compost

JOHN HAWKINS/141337

BUSINESS AS USUAL: Ron Hinton, of Edendale Nursery, with one of 300,000 18-month-old pinus radiata seedlings grown to contract.

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Millions of dollars in forestry seedlings could become compost following uncertainty over the future of the Emissions Trading Scheme, a situation the Greens have labelled "a tragedy".

The controversial scheme was passed into legislation by Labour just before the November 2008 election but is under review by the National Government.

The legislation was in time for many nurseries to sow seeds for the 2009 planting but the uncertainty has spooked many investors, leading to unwanted stock throughout the country.

Pinus radiata seedlings generally range from between $180 and $450 per thousand, depending on the genetics.

This would mean $180,000 to $450,000 per million seedlings could be lost, as pine cannot be held over to the next year.

PF Olsen chief executive Peter Clark said there were millions of surplus stock trees sitting in nurseries around the country that faced the prospect of becoming "expensive compost". Many orders had been placed on contract but with uncertainty about the scheme some investors were walking away and writing off their deposits, he said.

The hesitancy could lead to severe shortages next season, with a lack of high-quality genetic seed and nurseries unwilling to gamble after this year's surplus, he said.

"If you want a nursery to get ready for sowing seed in October for planting in 2010 they need to be ploughing up paddocks now and they won't do that when there's no clarity on the ETS," he said.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said 7 million seedlings were sitting in nurseries and large tracts of land remained unplanted, a situation which was a "tragedy".

The review was a huge setback to the industry but it was not too late to plant seedlings this year and the Government needed to give a clear indication to reassure forestry owners it was still worthwhile planting trees, she said.

Several Southland and Otago nurseries contacted admitted they had small surpluses but believed most of the major stock overflows were in the North Island.

Edendale Nursery manager Ron Hinton said it was business as usual and he was very happy with this year's sales.

"We're no different this year to what we've been in other years. Most of our crop is grown on contract so our customers are bound to take them."

A couple of big cancellations in the north had probably led to the numbers being over-inflated, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News