A new trust launched at Parliament on Tuesday night aims to get farmers to grow more trees - specifically, willows and poplars for erosion and flood control, as well as shelter and summer forage for livestock.
The Poplar & Willow Research Trust has grown out of a Ministry of Works programme in the 1950s.
However, research to breed new robust and disease-resistent poplar and willow cultivars subsequently suffered from a lack of support until the Ministry of Agriculture provided funding through its sustainable farming fund.
Since 2008, it's provided four years of grants from its hill country erosion fund, to be matched by regional councils.
That's led to the trust, which is based at Massey University, with a breeding programme in Palmerston North.
Launching the trust, Agriculture Minister David Carter said floods and storms that have hit the country in recent years have been a reminder of the need to protect vulnerable hill country.
The trust will become the custodian of poplar and willow germ-plasm that's been held by the Plant & Food Research Institute for 20 years.
