One word contains wealth of difference

01-08-2010 | Marie Taylor

Farmers are short-changing themselves in the way they sell their trees according to Graeme Flett.

Flett, a former president of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association, says farmers often tell a potential buyer they want to "get rid of" their trees.

"That tells the buyer straight away he wants to get rid of them at any price."

Instead, farmers should say they want to market their trees. "The difference is only a word but there's a whole difference in attitude."

Before farmers talk to prospective log buyers, they should first find out what they have in their forest woodlots.

"Farmers need to know what they have got. A lot of farmers are excellent sheep or dairy farmers but they don't know a lot about trees.

"You need to get someone in who can tell you what is there and the quantities there are. They will charge you a fee without having a commission."

Flett gave up farming 20 years ago because of back problems, but he and his wife, Joy, have been planting trees for 40 years.

Now they have 430ha of plantation forest at Table Hill near Milton, which he describes as an "on-going" forest.

"We have always made a good return from our trees," he says.

He knows there are unscrupulous buyers happy to take advantage of farmers selling wood. Knowing what is in the standing forest before harvest means farmers can go to more than one potential purchaser and obtain price offers.

"Go to purchasers and say ‘I want to market these trees and this is what is projected to be in my forest. What sort of prices are you offering?'"

Woodlots could be sold on a stumpage value by actual grade or by tonne.

If sold by tonne, buyers will discount prices because they will take a risk of not getting the grades right, he says. Buyers had to build in this risk factor.

"Farmers come to me and tell me they got nothing for their trees, but often they don't know what they have got before they start."

Recently a dairy farmer got $6000 for a block of trees, but the quality of the stand was poor, and most of it was only pulp grade. "He was expecting quite a lot more but he was selling dags."

Farmers with tree crops must be there for the long term and also discount back their returns. "If you are in for a quick dollar forget about it in forestry."

And farmers have a 10-year period over which they can safely sell mature radiata pine trees, he says.

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