I’ve just added “New Zealand” as a blog category.
I would love to get comments, ideas and stories from New Zealanders who grow, process or use blackwood.
I know there are plenty of Kiwi farmers who grow blackwood. I want to hear of your experiences, both the successes and the failures.
Ditto with NZ luthiers. I know some of you use locally grown blackwood. Send me your stories and pictures of some of your work.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Cheers,
Gordon Bradbury.
Posted in Commentary, New Zealand
With the pending implementation of the Tasmanian Forests Agreement and the unsustainable management of the public blackwood resource over the past 17 years, the supply of blackwood sawlog from State forest is set to plummet. Read the Certification and Supply page (above) for further background on how we came to this unfortunate situation. Following the planned resource review sustainable annual sawlog supply could go as low as 4,000 cubic metres, down from the current approximate annual harvest of 10,000 cubic metres.
This will have a dramatic and positive impact on sawlog prices and provide a significant commercial opportunity for existing and potential private blackwood growers.
The key question in all of this is:
Will the forest industry open itself up to allow greater competition and market transparency so that these changes in supply can be allowed to transparently affect sawlog prices and hence stimulate supply from private growers?
No doubt some market substitution will occur in response to this change in blackwood supply (Economics 101). We will start importing blackwood timber from New Zealand farmers, while some buyers will seek alternative species from mainland and overseas suppliers. Yes even the New Zealand farmers will benefit from the Tasmanian Forests Agreement.
There is insufficient information publically available to get a clear picture, but what parts of the jigsaw puzzle are available suggest that the blackwood market is set for a major disruption. Will market forces be allowed to respond accordingly?
So what do you think?
Give us your thoughts and comments.
Posted in Commentary, Markets
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-30/greens-to-back-forestry-peace-deal/4659544?section=tas
Well the TFA signatories are bravely going where no forestry agreement has ever gone before (the closest Australian example I can think of is the old Qld RFA from 1999); defying the politicians and the critics, and boldly maintaining the initiative. The forestry wars have been completely turned upside down.
No doubt it is a more mature approach than throwing in the towel and ordering the troops back to the trenches. Only time will tell whether it will work.
One thing is certain. The ongoing dialogue between the signatories can only be a good thing.
But the Liberals have promised that we will go to yet another State election where forestry will be the dominant issue. Sighhhh!!! Will the Liberals end up opposing FSC Certification?
The promise by Forestry Tasmania to stay out of the contentious forests regardless of whether they are formally reserved or not, is certainly an interesting development.
Can this promise be kept if we end up with a Liberal State Government? Will the FT Board stand up to a new Government? Presumably they will have to resign en masse if FT is ordered by a future Liberal Government to resume old-growth logging.
So stand by for many more years of forestry drama. The evidence is clear that while we continue to log public native forests in Tasmania this drama will never cease.
In the mean time support my campaign to establish a blackwood growers cooperative, and help shift the forest industry away from the political and social turmoil to a proud, profitable future.
Posted in Commentary
It was with great surprise and sadness to learn of the death recently (22/3/2013) of New Zealand friend, blackwood scientist and farm forestry advocate Ian Nicholas at the age of 59.
I only got to know Ian personally in the last 10 years but in that time I developed a great respect and appreciation for his immense knowledge and understanding, but also for his quite strength and determination. He was a tremendous advocate for broadening the range of commercial tree species grown in New Zealand including blackwood. His determination and hard work provided much of the momentum and progress in the small world of plantation blackwood.
Over many decades Ian provided the New Zealand focus and did much of the research that helped turn blackwood from an unruly opportunity into a commercial reality. With Ian’s help New Zealand farmers have mastered the art of growing commercial blackwood, and are now starting to reap the benefits. In 2002, in conjunction with Ian Brown he wrote the plantation blackwood bible, the Growers Handbook, while in the past few years he took on the role of managing the New Zealand blackwood growers group (AMIGO).
On his last visit to Tasmania in May 2011 Ian, together with two Chilean forest scientists and blackwood experts, were on a fact-finding mission to see what we were doing with blackwood. They left Tasmania realising that they knew far more about growing blackwood than we do. Ian was disappointed with where the forest industry had got to in Tasmania. I wrote an article about it in Tasmanian Times. It was Ian’s visit that pushed me to develop the Growers Cooperative proposal.
Ian was very supportive of my proposal to establish a blackwood growers cooperative in Tasmania.
My dream was that one day I would enjoy Ian’s company as he showed me around the blackwood highlights of New Zealand. Sadly that dream will never be realised.
Thank you for your support and friendship Ian.
Rest in Peace.
Posted in Commentary, New Zealand
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Tasmanian Blackwood Growers Cooperative 
Win? Win? Win? – URGENT!
I have recently discovered that the special timber industry in Tasmania (including the blackwood industry) is in serious trouble. Under the current circumstances any efforts to develop a commercial, farm-based blackwood industry, including a growers cooperative, are impossible because:
Read my article here for more details.
Given that Forestry Tasmania is the major special timbers producer, and that blackwood comprises at least 80% of special timbers production, this amounts to the commercial sabotage of existing and potential private blackwood growers. Under these circumstances there is absolutely no way that Tasmanian farmers can compete in the blackwood market. The blackwood market is now effectively closed to competition.
As I said in the Tasmanian Times article the special timbers industry must seek a win-win-win resolution to this problem – a win for the future of the iconic special timbers industry, a win for the Tasmanian community and a win for Tasmanian farmers.
URGENT
If you support the future of a profitable and sustainable blackwood industry please contact Forestry Tasmania and your local State members of parliament (as FT shareholders) and ask that Forestry Tasmania manage all of its special timbers activities on a profitable, fully-commercial, transparent and sustainable basis. No more subsidies, no more compromising farmers commercial interests.
PS. I will be posting another blog here in a few days with further details of why the special timber industry is in serious trouble. Stay tuned!
PPS. 2010 turned out to be quite a year – 1) the year I completed my PhD in blackwood genetics and wood quality that reaffirmed the potential of blackwood as a profitable commercial timber species, 2) the year FT gave me the flick as an employee, and 3) the year FT abandoned the blackwood industry and decided it was a charity deserving of a 50%+ taxpayer subsidy.
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Posted in Commentary, Markets