Tauranga supplier looks to the future of forestry

Published on 07/12/2022

In order to meet New Zealand’s carbon sequestration goals, 380,000 ha needs to be planted. In other words, for a 600 ha sheep and beef operation, roughly 10 ha of planted forest can potentially offset around 10 percent of that operation’s carbon emissions.

From 1 January 2023, there is anew permanent forestry activity available for post-1989 forestland in the ETS.

Forests in the permanent category can use the stock change approach and attain carbon credits for as long as the forest is in the ground and the carbon stock is increasing.

David MacGibbon, Grosafe Group chief executive, says it’s difficult to accurately determine what the drivers mean for projected increases in planting.

“On top of the annual 19,000 ha of replanting across our 1.7 million ha productive forest estate, the range is anything between 5-30,000 ha per year. However, throw in the current record prices for sawn timber and forecasts projecting a quadrupling of global demand by 2050, the sector is poised to expand exponentially.”

With this in mind, Grosafe has been working with the industry and foresters to understand their future needs for grass and broadleaf weed release products while recognising the practical issues facing some of the current products.

Common themes have emerged, MacGibbon says, including concern over supply chain disruption and impacts; physical handling of drums and liquid products, and mixing, application, and storage issues.

Responding to these challenges, Grosafe has recently launched two innovative tree release products in commercial volumes this spring.

Hexagard® 750 and Hexagard® 750 Extra are high strength WDG formulations, combining two of the most preferred and proven active ingredients used in the sector.

Co-formulating the actives into a single high-strength granule has resulted in a stable formulation with improved efficacy, he says.

The higher active ingredient content means 33-40 percent less product to handle, significantly less weight to transport and reduced storage area required.

At a recommended rate of 10kg per ha both formulations are packed in 10 kg bags which makes for ease of rate calculations.

“The stability of the Hexagard formulations means perennial issues experienced with mixing and applying suspension concentrates is eliminated.”

“Storage characteristics and shelf life are also superior, so operators can now store any leftover product across seasons without risk of settling out as is the case with suspension concentrates.”

The safety aspect of being able to manage any spills of dry gran-ules rather than having to clean up liquids has been welcomed by health and safety as well.

Plenty of thought has been put into packaging. Hexagard 750 and Hexagard 750 Extra are packed in robust 10 kg LDPE bags, 60 per coreflute, in a recyclable cardboard bin which is strapped on a wooden pallet. This makes it easy to quickly calculate volumes required for a particular job and simplifies both the logistics of getting product onto remote sites, and the recovery of used packaging materials.

“We are delighted with the response we have had from the industry,” MacGibbon says. “Being able to work closely with the sector, understand their issues and then respond by developing some innovative solutions which address some long-held concerns by operators has been very satisfying.”

For more detail contact Grosafe Group at info@grosafe.co.nz or 0800 220 002

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Tauranga supplier looks to the future of forestry