So oat milk is better for the environment?

[harm_less]

Not endorsing it but, IF it is more profitable to farm pine trees than food, or convert farmland to housing, instead of growing our own produce, I am wondering how that is any different to relying on imports of products in any other sector, say oil..  It is just market economics in a global economy and letting specific countries do what they do best...

It's not like we get the food any cheaper just because we grow it here

Firstly we need to put a stop to mass immigration so that we dont have a housing issue, along with roading issues, etc. Housing supply has more to do with misplaced investment strategies by the average NZer than immigrants. Furthermore we lack nurses, horticultural and agricultural employees which is being addressed by importing those with such skills.
We need to be self sufficient and as less reliant on imports as possible, especially food. So a national strategy akin to that of 'preppers'. Doesn't sound like a viable national solution.
Too much focus on $$$, thats all people care about, the benefits to society are more important. Unfortunately $$$ are what drives the worlds nations in these times so if you're promoting opting out of that see my preppers comment above.

Secondly, we grow plenty of pines and export tonnes of timber, and yet have a supply shortage for the local population? Agree. We are a geographically remote country and should be optimising our exports by way of value adding to them. That's $$$ driven strategy so at odds with your "Too much focus on $$$" so you are contesting your own reasoning.
WTF?
Why do we export timber to get processed in China and then ship back the end products into NZ? Timber mills are suffering as a result.
Why do we have permanent pine forests that never will be cut down and replanted with a new batch of trees to suck up more carbon? Agree. Though indigenous tree varieties are also catered for in the ETS directed land use revision directives but slow growth rates result in their being a poor second to pinus radiata.
Its beyond belief. There is nothing sustainable about farming trees that never get cut down for profits.

Speaking of oil, we have our own oil supply here and we should use it. We use the gas supply, but they want to phase that out too! Oil from NZ reservoirs is typically of a high wax content and of more value to sell offshore than to refine here. No point in devaluing this resource in an attempt as self sufficiency as that is false economics.

No more marsden point oil refinery, now we have issues importing bitumen (is one of the reasons our roads are in such a poor state). The poor state of our roads goes way deeper than that. The modern shortsighted tender process, reduced maintenance over the past decades, short term design strategies and the increase in maximum truck weights to 50T are all major factors.

I could go on. This country is stuffed and its only going to get worse if we dont act. There are many aspects in how our country is being run over the past few decades that need reviewing but we are in a better place economically and governmentally that many other OECD countries so we just need to capitalise on those advantages.

My 2c worth as above.