Forest owners have sent a clear message that the sector’s levy provides important support to forest growers by voting to renew it for a further six years.

The Harvested Wood Material (HWM) Commodity Levy was introduced in 2013 under the Commodity Levies Act 1990 as a way of collectively advancing the interests of all forest growers in New Zealand.

The Levy Vote, which ran from 1 to 31 October 2024, saw nearly 90 percent of voters supporting renewal of the levy at the proposed rate of 33 cents to 45 cents for the next levy order period.

The ‘yes’ votes represented 99.63 percent of the total hectares of voters.

The vote was conducted by independent election agency Research New Zealand in accordance with the Act.

Post-voting audits indicated that some votes cast did not meet the voting or eligibility criteria. All votes that did not comply with these criteria were removed. This included some members of syndicates that cast multiple votes for the same forest, votes that were cast for non-qualifying forests and votes cast by individuals that were not the legal owner of the forest.

The audited result returned 191 eligible votes and a total forest area of 610,357 hectares. Of these votes, 171 were a ‘yes’ to renewing the levy and 20 were votes against renewal. Votes in support of renewing the levy represented 608,070 hectares.

Research New Zealand reported the “yes” vote was conclusive, even if the 109 ineligible votes were counted. On that basis, the 300 total votes returned pre-audit would have still returned a 70 percent support rate for the levy.

Forest Growers Levy Trust chair, Stephen Franks, says the positive result highlights the importance of the levy to forest growers.

“Forestry has faced difficult times of late and we know growers across the country are looking very closely at their costs,” Stephen says. “The fact that growers are still committed to the levy during an economic downturn shows a welcome recognition of the value of shared industry-good activity and representation.

“Forest owners big and small can achieve more together than on their own.”

The levy has generated approximately $10 million per annum in recent years. It will continue to fund sector representation, research and development, biosecurity, environmental advocacy and more.

Ten years of the levy has helped forest owners achieve stronger biosecurity protection for New Zealand’s production forests. It has improved health and safety and helped to transform harvest operations with mechanisation.

“The forest research and development programme in particular has enabled access to co-funding for growers, raising $2.50 for every levy dollar invested,” Stephen says. “The successful levy vote is a credit to the vision of those who established the levy and the continuing ability of forest growers to agree on core requirements to advance forest growing in New Zealand.”

Stephen says the focus of the levy has evolved over time in response to growers’ needs.

“There is now a substantial focus on cost savings and building resilience. Not only to natural challenges but to local political responses as New Zealand faces international climate change policies and market disruptions.”

The passing of the levy is the culmination of eight months of consultation with stakeholders leading into the Levy Vote.

The FGLT heard about how the levy meets growers’ needs and what changes the sector would like to see, including how the levy should be spent in future.

Growers said they wanted to see greater investment into activities promoting understanding of forestry’s contributions. There was also appetite, particularly among small-scale forest owners, to fund more work on alternative species. Maintaining the sector’s biosecurity programmes, which also help to protect non-production and indigenous forests, emerged as an ongoing priority to the sector too.

That feedback is guiding the levy budget the Trust will administer for the immediate future.

“The sector’s input is needed to make sure the levy is doing what forest growers need it to do,” Stephen says.

The FGLT will now submit an application to the Minister of Forestry for a new Harvested Wood Material Commodity Levy Order.

The new Order will impose a levy rate band of 33 cents to 45 cents per tonne of harvested wood material (excluding GST) on forest owners for the 2026 to 2031 levy order period.

The Trust has undertaken not to increase the levy above 33 cents for the first year (2026) of the new levy order.

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