The hot potato – getting the price right

The need to produce affordable products for the Kiwi consumer, while also enabling the grower to survive, is the conundrum facing the sector, says Horticulture New Zealand | Ahumāra Kai Aotearoa chair Barry O’Neil MInstD.

The industry contributes 99 per cent of fresh vegetables to New Zealand supermarkets, with only 20 per cent – largely potatoes and onions – exported overseas. Fruit plays a bigger role in the export market, which creates more opportunities for growers. But O’Neil says finding the right pricing balance becomes difficult for the vegetable growers.

 “Obviously, we’re trying to increase our export revenue and we’ve got a goal of doubling exports in our horticulture action plan, but an issue we often forget about is that horticulture also feeds New Zealanders.”

The sector plays a big role in the wellbeing of New Zealand, but the cost of living crisis has driven up costs for everyone, including production.

O’Neil stands firm that the sector does not want to see a future where Kiwis can only afford to buy frozen, internationally grown and sourced vegetables in the supermarket.

“We are working with the government, regional councils and our growers to try to find a way through this. We haven’t solved it yet, but we need to as a country.”

Horticulture employs about 60,000 people either full-time or seasonally, and one of its strengths is its close relationship with communities, enabling it to attract local talent and keep the industry afloat. With crops grown closer to residential areas, there is an increased need for open channels of communication.

“You get a lot more people close to where we’re growing and don’t like the dust or the noise. So we have to work with the community so they understand the land is special and it shouldn’t be made into housing.”

Climate change has revealed the immediate impacts on infrastructure, feeding into the narrative that underpins a need for greater resilience, and a sign that further investment is required to push an effective strategy.

“We have about 100,000 hectares of agricultural land we grow on. A lot of those areas are flood plains, as we found out during Cyclone Gabrielle. So under risk from climate events like that, there’s about one million hectares of total land area that is suitable for horticulture. The availability of land for horticulture is not a limiting factor, but water can be.”

Horticulture New Zealand is advocating to the government to address flood risk and water management which can be achieved in part by using larges water storage schemes, such as the Opuha Dam in South Canterbury.

“We’ve invested historically in flood protection, for instance, in the early and mid-1900s. But we haven’t always maintained the depths or heights that’s needed. We haven’t invested in them sufficiently,” O’Neil says.

“I think there are also ways we can adapt to how we grow, but it’s hard, and we have to work together with the community. It is something we’re committed to and it is certainly a priority we have for this current government.”

With the devastation brought about by Cyclone Gabrielle, the reality is that some of the more established, older growers who can’t face the burden – or trauma – of starting from scratch, have vacated the sector, which will also impact its growth.

But there is also light on the horizon, particularly with innovation and rethinking the shape of the industry. Growers have become more resilient in finding new ways to protect their crops, including growing under covers which has enabled productivity.

Māori growers are also contributing uniquely to the future of horticulture and expanding into new international markets.

“We have Māori kiwifruit growers who have a joint marketing venture with Zespri, exporting to Hawaii, where culturally there’s a very close relationship. I see that as just the very beginning of opportunities for our Māori growers to be able to access markets with similar cultural connections.”

About 10 per cent of the kiwifruit industry is Māori grown and owned, and Māori are being recognised as significant investors who also have culturally different approaches to growing. As a way of fostering that growth, Horticulture NZ is actively supporting Māori to enter the sector with new training programmes.

Without innovation and investment in research and development, the smaller product sectors will struggle to survive.

“Sectors like kiwifruit have got the critical mass needed, but if you’re in the tamarillo sector or the squash sector, for example, you don’t have that critical mass to be able to invest. There’s different levels within horticulture as to what is achievable or not. I’m seeing the need at the lower end where the groups are not yet at a stage where they can support themselves as a priority in the first instance, and we have our Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan to achieve this.

“We are concerned our science system has lost its focus in supporting New Zealand’s primary industry to help it overcome some of the challenges. Science needs to develop new ways of growing with low emissions. It needs to help us to produce new plant varieties and, of course, we need to invest as well.”