24 August 2012

A multi-million dollar boost has been given to research into finding ways to make New Zealand’s log and wood exports pest-free while making less use of fumigants.

A joint Scion/Plant & Food Research bid for research funding for “Protecting market access for wood exports” has succeeded in getting government finding support of $1.3 million a year for four years. The forest and wood processing industries will provide co-funding of $575,000 a year through Stakeholders in Methyl Bromide Reduction (STIMBR).

Chairman Ian Gear says STIMBR welcomes this support. The proposed research will provide an environmentally sustainable approach to maintaining our market access for New Zealand’s wood products.

However, the government decision to fund four years of study and not six as requested, will be a challenge. Scion, PFR and STIMBR will be investigating ways to maximise the outcomes from the research and considering other funding sources that will enable the proposal to be delivered in full.

The New Zealand export wood industry is heavily reliant on an ozone depleting and toxic fumigant, methyl bromide. Currently, to meet market requirements, the industry applies fumigant treatments irrespective of the actual risk of infestation by pest species.

“Our research has three main components,” says Scion.

 “Firstly, we will use ecological assessments of risk to quantify the actual risk of infestation of wood products throughout the year. This information will allow the Ministry for Primary Industries to negotiate fumigant free trade of NZ wood products when pest risk is low.

“Secondly, we will evaluate non-fumigant treatments such as hot and cold sterilisation. Heat sterilisation will be achieved by applying electrical energy directly to logs. In principle this is like converting a log into an old fashioned ‘bar heater’, the energy applied is converted directly to heat.

“This approach is technically challenging, but provides the most efficient long-term solution for controlling pests with heat. Cold sterilisation will be achieved using electron beams that convert electrical energy intox-rays to kill pests. This same technology is currently saving lives in our hospitals where the technique is applied to kill cancerous tumours.

“Finally, in some situations non-chemical alternatives may not provide a pest risk mitigation measure that is acceptable to our trading partners. To overcome this we will assess the potential of controlled atmospheres, catalytic compounds and fumigant mixtures to increase the efficacy of fumigants for pest control.

“We recognise that such gases will have environmental risks, so our research aims to develop a protocol that uses the most environmentally benign mixture of compounds that are applied at the minimum possible rate to meet our international trading obligations. In total our research project will future-proof New Zealand's international trade in wood products by creating an integrated risk assessment system for managing them.”

STIMBR acknowledges with thanks the work put into the proposal by Scion’s Dr Steve Pawson and his team, Plant and Food Research and others.

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For the full list of 2012 research funding recipients, click here.

For science minister Steven  Joyce’s media release  ‘Govt invests $133m in new science projects’, click here.