Fragmented Farmland & the Impact on Food Security
In 2012 Federated Farmers put out a press release advocating for Auckland to build up and not out. Their primary reason was to halt the loss of productive land to urban sprawl and the conservation estate. In the prior 30 years, 30% of it was gone: business.scoop.co.nz/2012/12/30/lets-take-the-lid-off-our-cities/
They submitted in 2016 on the Better Urban Planning Issues paper calling for protection of the rural urban boundary: treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2024-05/pc-inq-bup-sub-021-federated-farmers-of-new-zealand.pdf
Since then the situation has got worse. Large areas of the Rodney, Franklin and the West have been developed or are under development. New growth areas are targeted for Westgate, Red Hills, Whenuapai, in the North West and Drury (product of a private plan change) is paving over land in the South.
Now, the Minister of Housing is proposing to remove the urban/rural boundary and enable building on level three soils: beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-property-council-residential-development-summit
Labour’s National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land currently protects 15% of New Zealand’s total land. Level three soils make up two thirds of that. Bishop says this is too much. Future protections would be of 5% of land.
While level 3 are not the most elite soils, they are not bad, and useful for many farming activities: livestock, sheds and greenhouses and serve as a buffer zone for farming to expand into as the population grows. Major weather events also put our food supply at risk. To balance this we will need more farmland in the future, not less.
Clusters of housing development throughout the rural zone are not helpful. Big areas of joined up land are easier to farm than fields here and there. Federated farmers are once again raising their concerns about the government’s direction of travel.
Horticulture NZ are worried too. They published a report in 2018 that predicted fresh fruit and vegetable costs would rise considerably with the ongoing fragmentation of land: deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone1/nz/en/docs/industries/energy-resources-industrials/2023/horticulture-nz-report-final.pdf
They reiterated their concerns in 2021 when the NPS on HPL was being developed, which they supported. Now they are asking what efforts are going in to ensure affordable food, as much as affordable housing: farmersweekly.co.nz/politics/hortnz-warns-on-loss-of-land-to-housing/
These concerns seem to be falling on stony ground. Bishop is proposing to invest $100m to subsidise housing (not solar farms, not wind) in greenfield areas. Why this is happening, when there are a million homes already enabled within the urban boundary is hard to understand.
Our primary industry is agriculture. One of our leading areas is agri-tec. Climate change is going to impact all of this, offering challenges but also opportunities. Meanwhile, we have a cost of living crisis and the government response to food costs is talking up taking on the supermarkets and pushing through a GM bill that is deeply concerning scientists and exporters.
Which all begs the question, why on earth isn’t New Zealand being really thoughtful about the future of food? Where is the holistic food strategy? Are some parts of government simply not talking to each other? Removing protection from two thirds of our productive land seems premature.