A practical conference for people who want to get the best result they can from their land will be held in Feilding, New Zealand in April. Source: Stuff NZ
It’s not just for farmers, but for all those interested in land use for primary production.
The NZ Farm Forestry Association annual conference on April 6 -10 is themed The Challenge of Diverse Landforms.
Delegates will be treated to farm forestry and forest industry-related field trips, nationally and internationally recognised speakers and still have time for a feast of social discussions and debates among other visionary farmers and industry experts.
It will begin with an afternoon of technical and commercial presentations, including one from KPMG global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot on trends in global primary product production and what that means for New Zealand farmers.
Another notable presentation will be by American forest mycologist Professor James Trappe on mycorrhizal fungi in forestry, an under-recognised but important subject in New Zealand forestry and agriculture.
There will also be presentations on the Horizons Regional Council Sustainable Land Use Initiative that aims at better land use and soil conservation on the highly erodible hill country.
Farm visits include two farm forestry operations on the fertile terrace country around Feilding, a coastal sand country protection/production forest, a large-scale and innovative cropping, finishing and forestry operation that uses the latest technology to level, irrigate and manage extensive areas of sand country and a more conventional farm forestry operation on the higher and steeper inland dunes where the focus will be on alternative forestry species.
The role of forestry in highly erodible hill country will also be discussed, starting with the extreme erosion of Goulter’s Gully and then the erosion and Sustainable Land Use Initiative plantings of the western Pohangina valley.
Another option is a visit to view new logging systems in a Whanganui hill country forest.
