Roadmap set to double hort exports by 2035
It's critical that the horticulture sector works together as part of a goal to double the sector’s exports by 2035.
Productivity in the horticulture sector is being thwarted by different regions in the country having different rules for commercial growers and orchardists.
The Minister of Horticulture, Nicola Grigg, told Hort News that many large companies in the sector have sites in up to four different regions and they have told her this lack of consistency in rules governing what they can and can't do in each region is a real barrier to their productivity.
She says one of her major tasks in the coming year is to put an end to this inconsistency.
"My goal is to ensure there are national legislative settings are framed in such a way that the rules can only be interpreted in one way and for me that is a very big piece of work," she says.
Grigg says each regional council seems to interpret rules differently and to that end she plans to visit all the regions and get feedback from growers and orchardists and take this feedback to parliament so that it can be incorporated in new legislation.
She says the other big issue for her in 2025 is removing red tape and eliminating unnecessary and unhelpful processes that stifle productivity in the horticulture sector.
"By early this year we'll see the completion of the RMA Amendment Bill which had it first reading at the end of last year. That is pretty much singularly focused on removing the barriers to the productive agricultural economy so looking forward we will see changes begin to take effect on farm," she says.
During the year she and the agriculture ministers will feed in material to be incorporated in the bill which should be completed by the end of the year or early 2026.
The other area of concern to Grigg is the trade barriers that still apply to horticulture exports. At the end of last year the Horticulture Export Authority released a comprehensive report on barriers to trade for the sector and this showed that existing trade barriers cost the sector $135 million annually. This doesn't include the impact of no-tariff measures (NTMs) which cover separate rules that individual countries apply to imports from NZ, regardless of whether we have an FTA with them.
Grigg says the Government has commissioned a special report on trade barriers which identified that across the whole agri sector there were such 190 such barriers which cost NZ$10 billion a year.
Grigg says the non-tariff measures are very complex and says she is aware that strawberry growers and lime orchardists are suffering because of these.
Alliance has announced a series of capital raise roadshow event, starting on 29 September in Tuatapere, Southland.
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.