NZ’s Food Story – The Pukekohe hub, a 60-page report, said the rich volcanic soils south of Auckland contribute more than $250 million a year to the economy despite being only 4300 hectares or .01% of Auckland’s land area.
But pressure on South Auckland’s red soils is growing with demand for fruit and vegetables from Auckland alone expected to grow by 33% in the next 20 years.
Nationally, NZ has also experienced a 30% reduction in vegetable growing land between 1996 and 2012.
In the Auckland region alone 14% of the region’s Class 1 land or 10,000ha has or will be encroached by housing before 2040.
The report’s authors make six recommendations endorsed by Hort NZ to secure the district’s future for food production while balancing the Auckland region’s growing population demands.
They include a more considered planning approach to balancing housing and food demands, greater technology to manage intensified cropping and investing in new varieties of produce to meet conditions and preferences.
Other recommendations include more funding for horticultural education to draw in talent, a commercially sharper supply chain and more certainty on water access to balance horticultural and domestic water demands.
Hort NZ chief executive officer Mike Chapman said the report does not bring any significant surprises for him but does validate the sector’s concerns by backing them up with some sound data.
At the heart of the organisation’s efforts is an intention to see a National Policy Statement (NPS) for Versatile Land and High Class Soils make progress through Parliament.
The plan will aim to strike a balance between urban development and protecting prime growing areas like Pukekohe.
The only protection the area gets is in Auckland’s Unitary plan that protects 2000ha of elite soil.
However, a further 6000ha of next grade soils remain without protection, something Chapman hopes an NPS would change.
Horticulturalists are getting a reasonable hearing from Auckland City councillors but the report adds more weight to efforts to protect those soils.
Meantime, an NPS would be the starting point for a national approach to better food security and supply certainty for years to come.
“An NPS would mean growers have more certainty for the next generation, they would know the land will be there specifically for growing and rates will not become urban rates.
“What we have shown is that Auckland is losing good land for houses and its ability to feed itself with locally grown, fresh and plentiful fruit and vegetables will be threatened if growth continues the way it has.”
In recent years a number of large-scale growers have moved parts of their operations to Waikato but Chapman said even that is no longer an option thanks to a notified regional plan change that prevents moves to intensive land use. A similar scenario is also playing out in Canterbury.
“So our growers are really stuck – they cannot go somewhere else and are losing land in Auckland.”
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The full report can be read here.
