Source: Federated Farmers of New Zealand
Federated Farmers is welcoming the Government’s new $1 million funding programme to support grassroots efforts to control wilding pines.
Announced by Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard today, the fund will bolster community-led control projects on top of the Government’s $109 million investment over the next three years.
Federated Farmers meat and wool chair Richard Dawkins says the funding is a welcome boost for the people already putting in the hard yards to tackle wilding pines.
“Wilding pines are a huge threat to productive farmland, our water catchments and native biodiversity, and we need to be throwing everything we can at getting on top of them.
“National coordination and significant investment are important, but so is backing the people on the ground who know their own patch best.
“Farmers, landowners, volunteers and community groups have been doing huge amounts of work to control wilding pines, often with limited resources.
“This funding will help turn more of those local efforts into action, which is a really positive step.”
The Government’s funding boost shows it understands the scale of the problem.
“We have a big job ahead of us, but with $109 million going into the national programme and now another $1 million available to support community-led work, we have a real opportunity to make a serious dent in this problem.
“We welcome the Government recognising that local people need to be part of the solution.”
Wilding pine control is such a serious issue that Federated Farmers has made it a priority in its 2026 election platform, Dawkins says.
“We’re calling for whoever forms the next government to allocate a 10-year funding stream to control wilding pines.
“We also want to see 100% of International Visitor Levy funding used for conservation and tourism projects, as it was intended.
“This problem isn’t going away and it will just get worse unless we hit it head on, which requires reliable, long-term funding.”
Dawkins says another weapon in the battle against wildings is the use of low-impact stock grazing on conservation land.
“That costs absolutely no money to the taxpayer but actually works, as having sheep and cattle on that land keeps weeds and pests at bay, including wilding pines.
“That’s why we’ve asked in our election platform for 500,000 hectares of Department of Conservation land to be restored to grazing.
“Many Kiwis don’t see the scale of the wilding pine problem, but I can tell you that these destructive trees are rapidly spreading their way across good, productive land.
“Now is the time to hit them hard with every tool in the toolbox.”