A Taranaki man who advocates more carbon farming says there's a solid case to be made for converting unprofitable hill-country sheep farms to forestry.
Neil Walker, a dairy farmer and Taranaki Regional Rouncil member, has bought blocks of unproductive hill country in South Taranaki and planted pines and eucalypts on them.
He believes carbon farming is the way of the future and says farmers thinking about planting trees on unproductive hill country won't lose out.
Mr Walker says money is available from regional councils and central government to help pay for the planting.
Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson says subsidies do not help anybody except opportunists, but Mr Walker says Federated Farmers is out of touch.
Forest Owners Association agrees
The Forest Owners Association also believes that carbon forestry is a viable option for landowners.
President Peter Berg says research shows that plantations grown on hill country can be used to offset farm emissions and improve overall farm profitability.
Until now, he says, a lot of land suited to forestry has not been planted, because trees don't provide an annual cash income - but about five years after planting, they can provide an annual stream of carbon credits.
