About FFR

Future Forests Research Limited (FFR) is an exciting partnership between the New Zealand forest industry and New Zealand’s primary forest research organisation, Scion.  This partnership brings a strong focus to research and development to improve the international competitiveness of New Zealand forestry and delivers wider environmental and community benefits.

FFR was established in late 2007 to fund, organise and disseminate forestry research for the benefit of the wider New Zealand forestry sector. The establishment of FFR gives the stakeholders in the forest industry an opportunity to influence the direction of forest research to ensure it remains relevant to industry aspirations.

FFR works closely with the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) to prioritise funding for the forestry sector. FFR meets the needs of MSI by bringing together the forest industry research investment to complement the Government’s contribution channelled through MSI. The major share of FFR’s research funding is provided by MSI through their competitive bidding process.

Forestry is a major export industry, with annual export revenue of $3.2 billion and potential to increase exports to more than $5 billion over the next 10 years, adding significant value to the New Zealand economy. Achieving the full potential of the industry will require well targeted research that is adopted and implemented rapidly by the sector.

FFR has an important role to play in increasing forest earnings by focusing on the key strategic areas of:

  • improving wood growth, yield and product quality
  • reducing costs  throughout the value chain
  • enhancing value recovery
  • improving and capturing the value of ecosystem benefits of forestry.

All participants in the New Zealand forest industry and related fields are invited to join FFR. Membership gives participants the opportunity to have an influence on the direction of forest research, which will impact on the future of the forest industry in New Zealand.

As well as the formal information dissemination there are less tangible benefits from the technical and management people from various organisations getting together in a cooperative environment to work on solutions to common problems.

The Members are the people and organisations who participate in and provide financial support for FFR’s research programmes. Members select the research themes they wish to participate in.  Contact FFR to discuss becoming a member.