The report, Making the Economic Case for Vegetable Production in New Zealand, highlighted the challenges of maintaining domestic supply of vegetables in the context of rising production costs, rising land prices and diminishing returns. The report correctly points to the critical role that our vegetable producers play in supplying fresh vegetables for local consumption.
Fresh vegetables are perishable, which makes it challenging to ship them around the world. As a result, our domestic demand for fresh veges is dependent on domestic suppliers. The same is also true for suppliers — they are dependent on accessing domestic retailers and local markets to meet domestic demand, as export opportunities are limited.
And we need more of them. The 10-year-old Otago Food Economy report identified 3681 farms in the Otago region, of which 36 were vegetable farms or market gardeners. Since that time, the age of producers has continued to increase, vegetable farmers have retired and been unable to find people willing to take over their business, the cost of land has gone up and we have lost more land with high quality soils to suburban expansion. We desperately need to develop strategies and policies to support the viability of commercial vegetable production and to support new entrants into vegetable farming as a reliable livelihood.
However, the Horticulture New Zealand report from last year focused attention on compliance with freshwater guidelines as a key risk to vegetable growers, suggesting that stringent regulations of nitrogen to protect freshwater threatens to limit supply. The report correctly points out that the contribution of Aotearoa’s vegetable industry to declining freshwater quality pales in comparison to other much more significant impacts of intensive agricultural practices, or from urban activities. It states that limitations imposed by freshwater regulations could lead to a drop in production and rising prices, with consumers threatened with $9 broccolis.
This sets up the false, but common, argument that we need to make trade-offs between the environment and food security. The argument is presented as if we must choose between whether we want to address hunger in New Zealand and ensure access to healthy and nutritious food or improve freshwater quality. It suggests that a binary exists between environmental regulation or addressing hunger. While the argument is effective by pulling on our emotional strings, it is wrong. Loosening environmental protections will not reduce hunger.
There are far more important things we could be focused on to secure and expand our supply of fresh vegetables while improving environmental outcomes. The most obvious is addressing food waste in supply chains and in our supermarkets. Love Food Hate Waste identified that 42,000 tonnes of avoidable food waste occurs on farms per year (not just fresh vegetables). Supermarkets generate roughly 40,000 tonnes in additional avoidable food waste per year (again, not just vegetables). That is a significant amount of supply being wasted that could off-set the impacts of complying with environmental regulations.
But it is not just a waste of food. In most instances that is food that growers are not being paid for. It is a significant drain on their livelihoods.
Last year, a senate inquiry into supermarkets in the State of Victoria, Australia identified the threat that supermarkets posed to vegetable growers due to highly uneven power relationships. Representatives of vegetable growers highlighted that they were under such stress that more than one-third were considering leaving the industry because they felt they were being squeezed out by the supermarkets.
The inquiry highlighted how supermarket practices create an abundance of waste due to the use of non-binding contracts that lead to an oversupply of veges. Non-binding contracts mean that supermarkets can nominate a volume of produce that they would be interested in purchasing on a weekly basis, with no actual commitment to take up that volume. Growers respond by attempting to supply that volume, only to have their produce turned away by supermarkets, resulting in an oversupply of weekly perishable vegetables, before they even leave the farm. These products end up as waste due to the challenge of accessing alternative markets.
Food waste and the power of supermarkets has a far greater impact on domestic vegetable supply here in New Zealand than concerns about meeting water quality standards. Addressing waste and the power of supermarkets would have a much greater impact on reducing hunger and improving access to healthy and nutritious food.
Further diluting freshwater quality by relaxing rules about acceptable levels of nitrogen only serves short-term interests. It does nothing to shift how we value food. It does not ensure that farmers and farm workers are compensated for the work they do. It does not result in food production practices that are more in tune with the natural environment. And it does not address inequality and hunger.
Sean Connelly is a senior lecturer in the School of Geography Te Iho Whenua at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.
