Wallingford Station buyer says sale will have a ‘positive impact’ on community; hopes to be a good neighbour

The Ikea-linked Dutch forestry giant approved to buy 606 hectares of farmland on Central Hawke’s Bay’s Wallingford Station says it plans to “hire locally, buy locally, think locally” as it moves forward with
its plans in New Zealand.

In a statement sent to Hawke’s Bay Today, Ingka Investments (the investment arm of Ingka Group) said it was “committed to responsible forest management in New Zealand” and would work to ensure the resilience of its land and surrounding communities for the long term.

“We chose New Zealand after confirming that it presented the best options for large-scale afforestation [establishing new forests] for several reasons, including the New Zealand Government’s ambition to plant one billion trees by 2028 and its support of afforestation projects,” the statement read.

“Furthermore, New Zealand is economically and politically very stable, has a well-established forest industry and its climate is especially well-suited to forest growth.”

Ingka Investments forestland investment manager Andriy Hrytsyuk visited New Zealand in 2022 and said it was one of the best places to grow trees.

The company also confirmed the Wallingford deal had now been settled and that parties were in the process of working out the final details.

“We have had a very positive working relationship with the vendor and representatives of the seller. We first became aware of the property about a year ago when it was publicly advertised for sale.”

The company said it planned to establish and maintain a total of approximately 416.9ha of rotation forest over the 2024/2025 planting seasons.

Trees will be harvested after 27 to 30 years, and replanting will occur following harvestings.

131ha of land will be subdivided and sold, being part of the land containing a residential dwelling (2ha) and land better suited to farming (129ha).

The remainder of the land will be planted with native species or remain unplanted, including native bush (17ha), buffer land, setbacks, riparian areas, roads and tracks.

Concerns over the sale were previously voiced by Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker, who said the level of intensive monoculture planting that would take place as a result of the sale and others was a risk for the district’s environment and the community.

“This level of overseas investment is also pushing up prices and pushing out any potential local farm buyers,” Walker said.

“This is not helping us to build a resilient and thriving economy and community.”

Ingka said it believed forestry management projects like Wallingford would be beneficial for communities.

“We strongly believe that forestry management has a positive impact on local job creation, the environment and the community,” the release said.

“We have been actively engaging in dialogue with communities where we work, including the local Iwi.”

The group also said that at the same time, it was “aware that the shifts in land use are part of a long-term trend that [is] the result of changing demographics, rising costs and other factors”.

It said it was actively engaging with a number of other organisations in NZ like the Department of Conservation, Ministry for Primary Industries, local regional councils, community representatives, industry organisations and local forest managers.

“We plan to be in New Zealand for a long time – we won’t see a return on our afforestation efforts for 27 years – and we hope to be a good neighbour. We want to hire locally, buy locally, think locally.”

The release stated that the long-term purpose of the group’s forestry portfolio was to strengthen its financial resilience “through responsible forest management and the sale of FSC-certified timber on the open market”.

While the company is heavily linked to notable furniture brand Ikea (which will soon set up its New Zealand operations), it said that “no significant amount” of timber from its forests would enter Inter Ikea’s (the company responsible for producing Ikea furniture) supply chain.