FOA are currently looking at a compulsory commodity levy under the Commodities Levy Act. This would involve forest owners voting on whether the industry should compulsorily fund FOA.
The current FOA membership fee and targeted levy structure brings in income from FOA members. There are thousands of small forest owners in New Zealand. Therefore on an area basis almost one third of forest owners do not contribute to the association, and on a number of owners basis only a small percentage contribute. A voluntary levy is inequitable as it allows non-paying growers to benefit from the contributions of others. It is not possible to restrict the flow of industry benefits arising from FOA activities to FOA members. The results of FOA input to communication, policy development and research for example are nearly always available across the industry and cannot be restricted to FOA members. Projects undertaken by FOA benefit the industry generally. A compulsory levy on log production is equitable, as eventually the majority of forests are harvested, and the levy will be imposed at the time of greatest cash input for the forest grower.
Document downloads (.pdf)
- FOA Background (82.92 kb)
- The Levy Proposal (60.07 kb)
- Benefits of the Log Commodity Levy (83.89 kb)
- Necessity for a Compulsory Commodity Levy (66.14 kb)
- Consultation with Forest Owners (77.86 kb)
- How the Levy Will Be Spent in the First Year (66.84 kb)
- Letter from MAF to forest owners on the NEFD database requesting permission for release of contact details from NEFD database to FOA for purpose of information and voting papers being sent and FOA's explanatory letter (332.64 kb)
- Letter from FOA to Proposed Levy Collectors seeking comments by 9 March 2012 (91.98 kb)
For FOA to proceed with seeking a compulsory levy order under the Commodity Levies Act 1990, forest owners need to vote in support of the levy proposal via a referendum. Support for the proposal will be measured on the basis of both the number of growers voting in support of the proposal and area of plantation forest owned by those that support the proposal.
Information will be made available on how the levy is proposed to be used, how it will be collected and how levy payers can have a say in determining what FOA does with the levy. Further information will be sent directly to forest owners that we have contact addresses for, and via industry newsletters, magazines, and newspapers.
Feedback from the consultation process will be incorporated into the levy proposal. The referendum will be held once the final proposal has been developed. Forest owners will continue to be part of the consultation process up until the final proposal is submitted for referendum.
If you are a forest owner and wish to receive further information and participate in the levy proposal referendum please contact FOA with the subject line "Commodity Levy" and including your address and forest area details so that you can be included in future mail outs. You can also phone FOA on 04 473 4769 to provide this information.
