A new white paper warns there will be a significant transition of sheep and beef farms into pine forestry unless current Government policies and economic signals are reconsidered. 

Called “Why Pines?”, the paper summarises the results of four recently completed research programmes, funded by Our Land and Water. 

The four research programmes used different techniques and perspectives, but all found a likely increase in pine plantations on land currently used for sheep and beef farming. 

White paper co-author and director of Our Land and Water, Dr Jenny Webster-Brown, said while the results “raise significant concerns”, they were not a prediction of an unavoidable future. 

Dr Jenny Webster-Brown joined Kerre Woodham. 

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