Forestry focus at Fieldays

The many facets of the forestry and wood processing sector will be on display at Fieldays in Hamilton next month (November 30 to December 3).

A dedicated Forestry Hub will cover forestry growing, climate change, wood products, timber construction, biosecurity and biodiversity.

There will also be two forestry simulators on site so visitors can experience what it’s like to operate machinery in a forest.

More than 40 sector organisations and companies will be involved.

Hub spokesperson Alex Wilson says that the multi-billion-dollar forestry sector employs more than 35,000 people in both year-round and seasonal jobs.

“We’re entering an exciting phase in forestry and wood processing, which is creating huge employment opportunities,” Wilson says. “People of all ages and abilities can find great careers in this sector – from planting and managing native forests and looking after the forest environment, to managing people and resources and working with state-of-the-art technology.”

New Zealand has about 1.7 million hectares of productive forests and is currently the world’s largest exporter of softwood logs.