{"id":228480,"date":"2026-01-11T17:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/228480\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T17:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:12:08","slug":"see-all-of-ikeas-new-zealand-forestry-land-42000ha-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/228480\/","title":{"rendered":"See all of Ikea\u2019s New Zealand forestry land – 42,000ha and counting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like all foreign purchases of large blocks of land, Ingka\u2019s purchases require government approval. Public records published by the Overseas Investment Office show Ingka has purchased 23,700ha of farmland for conversion to forestry and 18,600ha of existing forests \u2013 including the Greenheart Group forests.<\/p>\n

Ingka\u2019s first application was approved in August 2021 for the $24.5 million purchase of the 5500 ha Wisp Hill Station<\/a> near Owaka in the remote Catlins region of Otago.<\/p>\n

Wisp Hill was a sheep and beef operation with a small 53ha existing forest. Ingka planned to plant nearly 3000ha of pine over five years, while 110ha was subdivided and sold. The application stated, \u201cThe remainder of the land will be unplanted land including native bush [1021ha], potential regeneration land [892ha], buffer land, setbacks, riparian areas etc. [323ha], high altitude land [130ha], and roads and tracks [28ha].\u201d<\/p>\n

Use our interactive to explore Ingka Investments\u2019 31 purchases.<\/p>\n

Once the Greenheart purchase is complete, Ingka\u2019s forestry holdings will be made up of about 30,000ha of production forests and about 11,000ha of land set aside for biodiversity, conservation, and other environmental purposes.<\/p>\n

Farm-to-forest conversions have sparked opposition<\/a> from farming communities and groups.<\/p>\n

The farming lobby has long blamed the growth of forestry for the decline in pastoral farming, but the forest sector maintains its claims have been exaggerated. In June 2025, a \u2018farm-to-forest Ban\u2019 bill passed its first reading in Parliament.<\/p>\n

When asked what Ingka\u2019s future plans were, Kelvin Meredith, Forestland Country Manager New Zealand at Ingka Investments told the Herald, \u201cWe are currently in a growth phase and continue to assess opportunities to expand our forest portfolio in Aotearoa New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur preference is to acquire existing forests where this aligns with our long\u2011term goals and values.”<\/p>\n

Meredith added, \u201cIt\u2019s important to know that Ingka Group, which Ingka Investment as well as Ikea New Zealand are part of, is owned by a foundation with a charitable purpose. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that no one else owns our assets, and there is no dividend going to any private shareholder. Our ownership ensures our independence, long-term view and purpose-driven approach, and we can take a different approach to forestry than many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to reach our climate targets without the use of carbon offsetting. We don\u2019t participate in carbon farming and selling carbon credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Knox<\/a> is a scientist turned data-journalist who investigates the stories behind the numbers, and creates interactives for Herald readers to explore them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like all foreign purchases of large blocks of land, Ingka\u2019s purchases require government approval. Public records published by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[136183,136181,7615,5263,136182,95,13990,3276,1656,23438,3105,32896,3233,1866,3238,3011,10938,668,100737,68831,23227,296,5511,100343,19720,82456,5840,1132,130,117,111,43,139,69,1118,6185,136184,67160,10534,12633,131,1530,80,2963],"class_list":["post-228480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-41000ha","tag-42000ha","tag-7615","tag-all","tag-amassing","tag-and","tag-below","tag-chris","tag-company","tag-counting","tag-data","tag-editor","tag-farm","tag-find","tag-forestry","tag-four","tag-herald","tag-ikea","tag-ikeas","tag-ingka","tag-interactive","tag-into","tag-just","tag-knox","tag-land","tag-landowners","tag-least","tag-million","tag-more","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-parent","tag-propelling","tag-ranks","tag-see","tag-spent","tag-than","tag-years","tag-zealand","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}