Ingka recently invited business editor SallyRae to view its operations in South Otago, where its foray into forestry in New Zealand began.
He has seen forestry companies portrayed as evil, some removing identification stickers from their vehicles fearing repercussions in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.
Ingka Investments’ operations manager Dylan Foster, described the division in the community as ‘‘just horrific’’.
As the mud was literally slung, there were ‘‘horrible’’ examples of people apportioning blame on others as the industry was forced into the spotlight following the damage inflicted by the catastrophic event.
But there were also many untold stories from Cyclone Gabrielle, including the work done by some of those forestry companies with their big equipment. One forestry operator opened up 10km of roading in an afternoon, he said.
New Zealand’s land use classification system runs from class 1 — land which was the best for sustained agricultural production — to class 8, which has severely limited uses.
While many farmers believed forestry should be relegated to ‘‘crap’’ land, he believed that was part of the industry’s issues; planting highly unstable country to then harvest and cleanup afterwards, particularly on the East Coast.
He had seen forests planted on class 8E — the highest classification possible — and he believed that country should never have been cleared for farming or had production forests planted on it.
Stability of soil was one of the drawcards of the South for Ingka Investments when it began its foray into forestry in New Zealand with the purchase of Wisp Hill station in the Owaka Valley in 2021.
Mr Foster was frustrated by what he described as some of the myths which had perpetuated around forestry, an industry he described as ‘‘just another land use’’.
Having been involved in the industry for more than 25 years, he said the total amount of forestry in New Zealand had barely changed.
That was in contrast to what had been perceived as a march on productive farmland in recent years, land use always being a subjective topic.
Most forestry was on class 6 or 7 land as it was not affordable to buy anything below that. Most properties had a mix of classes and Ingka had subdivided and sold off some of the better land.
Those on the land were passionate about it and attached to their properties — ‘‘you literally pour your heart into it’’ — and those involved in forestry were no different.
‘‘The guys and girls involved at Ingka are understandably proud of what they are doing. They are just as proud,’’ he said.
It was also untrue that once land went into forests that it could not go back to another land use and that the land was ruined.
Some had three to four changes of land use to date. ‘‘Nothing’s impossible,’’ he said.
He also believed it was unfair that pests had been targeted as being the forestry industry’s responsibility, with some suggestions forestry companies were harbouring them.
Ingka engaged professional pest controllers, while also allowing recreational access and hunting, and was doing its part in pest control, along with weed control, such as gorse eradication.
‘‘I can’t speak on behalf of other forestry companies, we’re going to do our bit,’’ he said.
Mr Foster’s family is a mix of fishers, farmers and foresters, making for interesting discussion over the Christmas dinner table.
He grew up at Hicks Bay, north of Ruatoria, and while his parents were commercial fishers, his mother still reminds him how enthralled he was with forestry workers in the area.
‘‘All I saw as a 5-year-old was the crew bus or the guy with the big boots … I was besotted,’’ he said.
His father deterred him from joining him in the fishing business, saying he needed to get some life lessons.
Plus he got seasick.
So he borrowed $2000, bought a chainsaw and went logging; a skinny white boy amid a workforce which was about 70% Maori and he was put into a waka ama (outrigger canoe) to build his strength up.
He worked his way up through the industry, studied for qualifications including forest and business management and moved into management.
He also got involved in the rural fire service and was deployed to Australia running a crew fighting wildfires in Victoria.
He spent 22 years with Japanese-owned forestry company Juken New Zealand, becoming the company’s general manager in Gisborne.
Eventually he became restless and left Juken, creating a small consulting business working with forestry companies on the East Coast when Cyclone Gabrielle hit.
Around the same time, Ingka Investments was starting to come on the scene, purchasing properties both in the South and the North Island.
Mr Foster did some consulting for the company before being asked to join it fulltime two years ago.
Forestland portfolio manager Andriy Hrytsyuk came out from the Netherlands and the pair discussed the company’s values — including what was probably a more aggressive environmental approach than any others — and the opportunities, he said.
Making the move was not a particularly hard decision for Mr Foster who described Ingka as a good company which wanted to be part of its communities.
‘‘It’s a great role. I like dealing with people, I get around the country and I’m engaging with different managers and they’ve all got different ways to tackle similar problems.
‘‘We’ve got really good passionate people that see this as an awesome result.’’
As well as converting farmland, Ingka had also acquired some existing forests including The Cone, not far from Wisp Hill.
Over the past 18 months, about 135,000 tonnes of timber had been harvested from the Cone, of which about two-thirds was sold locally and the rest exported.
About 140ha harvested last year was replanted this winter and the balance would be harvested before Christmas and the land replanted before next winter.
Harvesting was fully mechanised (even the felling), making it safer and more efficient.
After harvest, the site was slash-raked to clear debris and encourage uniform regrowth. Then about 1000 to 1200 stems per hectare were planted by hand, setting the forest up for its next cycle.
Those stems were likely to come from Leithfield Nursery, on the outskirts of Edendale, the main provider of seedlings for production forestry for Ingka’s southern investments.
The business, owned by Graeme and Dyann Dodds, usually had about 50ha in trees, predominantly Pinus radiata, and grew both one-year-old and 18-month-old P. radiata.
Manager Lyndon Mills said the business, which grew everything from A-grade seed, prided itself on never failing a customer, guaranteeing they would get their trees.
The long-standing operation tended to fly under the radar but this year was planning to have around 35-40 seasonal staff, something it never had to advertise for.
Ingka was looking for timber traits and Mr Foster had a good relationship with Mr Mills, discussing its requirements with him usually about twice a year.
Hamish Anderson, from IFS Growth, who has been managing The Cone site, said Ingka had been ‘‘bloody good to work with’’ and was committed to supplying local mills which also meant less transport costs than exporting via the two southern ports.
Wood was sold into the likes of Daiken, and Ngahere Sawmilling in Mataura, Stuart Timber at Tapanui, Craigpine at Winton, Niagara at Kennington, Pan Pac at Milton and the local post market.
Ingka Forestland acquisition manager Simon Honour said the company liked to form long-term relationships with local mills which provided more certainty.
Export was a fallback option and involved huge volatility versus relatively smooth pricing.
Mr Foster said that also dispelled the notion that overseas-based companies took all the profit overseas, as a lot of it stayed here.
Mr Honour said the whole reason why Ingka was investing in forestry was for the timber, a product which was ‘‘such an iconic part of the Ikea image’’.
The homeware giant used a lot of wood — almost the same amount New Zealand exported to China — and if it could set the standard, then that was a win for the supply chain and for improving forest management practices globally.
Potentially, products made from wood could eventually be traced back to the forests that they derived from, just like what Icebreaker had done with its Baacode, tracing products back to the farms where the wool was grown.
Initially, the Ingka team went wide to get established in New Zealand and now it was refining and seeing where it wanted to be, Mr Honour said.
Very rarely was Ingka the only one bidding on properties and it had missed out on some as there was demand for forests.
It was not going to spend a lot of money for properties that were high-risk or did not tick all its boxes.
Ingka did not have an end goal at this stage and he stressed it was a long-term investor.
‘‘We don’t intend selling a property when we buy it. We’re a long-term thinker,’’ he said.
