Wednesday 3 December 2025
3.00–4.30pm NZST | Online

New Zealand Dryland Forests Innovation (NZDFI), hosted by Marlborough Research Centre, invites industry stakeholders, growers, farm foresters and partners to a webinar discussing current market opportunities and advances in durable eucalypt breeding.

1. Australian hardwood market opportunity

In the past two years, sustainable harvesting of public native forests has ended in several Australian states, significantly reducing local hardwood supply. Australia’s 200,000 ha of eucalypt pulpwood plantations cannot meet this shortfall.

As a result, New Zealand growers of durable eucalypts have a substantial opportunity to develop a hardwood log and timber trade with Australia. NZDFI’s regional vision includes planting 60,000 ha of durable hardwood forests over the next 25–30 years to meet future demand.

2. Update on NZDFI’s tree breeding programme

Successful forestry relies on planting high-quality nursery stock with proven genetic potential. NZDFI’s breeding work began in 2003, with long-term testing now delivering results.

A Science Team project completed in 2025 has achieved first-generation selection of elite Eucalyptus bosistoana. Twenty-four top families and associated plus trees have been identified, with scion material to be collected by Proseed NZ in January 2026 and grafted into the Amberley clonal seed orchard later that year. These new elite selections will expand NZDFI’s clonal seed orchard and support future commercial production of high-quality XyloGene® seed for nurseries and growers.

This work was supported by the Marlborough Research Centre, the University of Canterbury, Forest Growers Levy Trust, and Te Uru Rākau – NZ Forest Service.

Presenters

• Paul Millen, NZDFI Manager, Marlborough Research Centre
• Ruth McConnochie, Tree Breeding Consultant

A Q&A session will follow the presentations.

Registration

To register and receive the TEAMS link, please email Susan Foster here.

This webinar is free to attend.