Opinion
FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – August 3, 2020
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Time for a whole food strategy Jack Keeys
A
S THE world gazes in awe at New Zealand for its success in controlling covid-19 this moment has been recognised as providing the perfect platform to both demonstrate leadership and share our stories from an elevated global stage. One of those opportunities is taking a leadership position on regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is one of the key topics of the Fenwick Forum, co-ordinated by the Aotearoa Circle. It has also appeared in numerous other recent events and publications. Termed everything from the RA20 virus and complete pseudoscience through to a saviour of our food system and the planet, it’s important to first consider why regenerative agriculture has gained such momentum in a relatively short time. We have seen the rise and fall of food miles, widespread condemnation of palm oil and hundreds of different labels each with its own set of standards and claims. What all these movements have in common is they are intended to meet the needs of conscious consumers. Shoppers are seeking to make buying decisions that align with their values and give them the warm and fuzzy feeling from making a positive environmental difference with their dollars. To date the organic certification has been a simple method for consumers to make quick decisions at the supermarket shelves and the Organic Products Bill is with a select committee. But there are multiple organic standards in NZ, which differ
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again from the hundreds of standards internationally. In addition, shoppers are starting to understand organic can have worse environmental and animal health outcomes than conventional production. We are trying to play catch-up to an old trend and, instead, it’s time to leap forward and lead the next one. Regenerative agriculture addresses the issue of everincreasing shoppers’ fatigue, bringing a new opportunity for consumers – a single standard based on environmentally beneficial production, which encompass land, water and air. So how do we leverage the momentum that has already gathered under the title regenerative agriculture? How can we use this as a chance to pass premiums to producers, provide value to consumers and simultaneously improve the environment? We need a NZ regenerative agriculture label, aligning with the values of Te Taiao in the Fit For a Better World vision.
The benefits? We can clearly define regenerative agriculture as production systems that demonstrate continuous improvement in their environmental impact on soils, water and air. It is achievable and easily understandable to producers and consumers. We don’t need to be bound by extreme pseudoscience interpretations of the practices that are not evidence-based. We can use the significant research and tools already developed in NZ to measure performance. NZ producers have already made significant progress towards this and regenerative agriculture
provides a chance to recognise and reward their efforts. An additional advantage is that the sector has already invested considerable resource and training into delivering farm environment plans to farm businesses across the country. Leveraging this investment as a platform for delivering a premium label as opposed to yet another regulatory cost is an exciting proposition for the whole sector, from farmers to marketers. Above and beyond this a clear national interpretation of regenerative agriculture in addition to biotechnology and subsidies and trade would provide businesses the ability to take action without uncertainty and
plan for Northland. Our farming colleagues and whanau are rapt the council under the leadership of Penny Smart stood firm in the interest of truly sustainable, integrated management protection of our biosecurity, wider environment and existing valuable GM free status and Northland, Naturally brand, ensuring robust Resource Management Act processes prevailed above politics. The decision complements excellent precautionary and prohibitive GE/GMO provisions in the Auckland Unitary Plan, Whangarei District Council’s and Far North District Council’s operative district plans and strong precautionary provisions in the operative Northland regional policy statement. Farmers and other primary producers can now feel confident their livelihoods in valuable agricultural, horticultural, apiculture, pastoral and forestry sectors are protected. Raw materials from the coastal marine
environment like seaweed and fish products also won’t be tainted by risky GE/GMO applications that might be lodged with Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats in Wellington and rubber stamped. Action was and is needed by local councils given serious deficiencies in the national legislation, the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, as identified by Local Government New Zealand, many councils and primary producers. Deficiencies in HSNO include inadequate liability provisions and no mandatory requirement for the EPA to take a precautionary approach to outdoor GE/GMO applications. GMOs include risky, controversial gene-edited organisms, shown in recent years to have unpredictable and undesirable off-target adverse impacts. It is hilarious to watch the pro GE/GMOs faction attempt of late to try to distance themselves from transgenics and
now admit CRISPR techniques are also deeply flawed. Kudos also to Whangarei District Council and Far North District Council, who worked in a collaborative and fiscally responsible manner to jointly lodge the important appeal challenging the regional council’s initial flawed decision, in keeping with the wishes of local primary producers and other ratepayers.
MAKE HAY: Jack Keeys says New Zealand must embrace the Fit for a Better World vision and develop a collaboration between the Government and the food and fibre sector to capitalise on regenerative agriculture.
enable real progress. It’s time to build on the Fit For a Better World vision and develop a collaboration between the Government and the food and fibre sector for a complete NZ food strategy.
Who am I? Jack Keeys is a KPMG agrifood research and insights analyst.
Your View Got a view on some aspect of farming you would like to get across? The Pulpit offers readers the chance to have their say. farmers.weekly@globalhq.co.nz Phone 06 323 1519
LETTERS Continued from previous page So, the just released report, Vision and Action for the New Zealand Wool Sector, suggests three recommendations for action. While space precludes me from going into detail it is my fervent hope that, at last, wool will rise again and take its place as the number one natural fibre of choice. Doug Archbold Christchurch
GE stance pleases IT IS always gratifying when regional councils listen to local farmers’ and other ratepayers’ as well as district councils’ concerns about biosecurity and other emerging issues. A bouquet to Northland Regional Council for recently voting to put much needed precautionary and prohibitive GE/ GMO provisions in the coastal marine area of the new regional
Linda Grammer Whangarei
More info needed I READ with interest Jannette Perrett’s article Regen ag can’t wait for science. I note she has been farming for 45 years in five different localities. The article contains experiences of cows with diarrhoea and using meal to bung them up. Wouldn’t fibre such as straw or hay achieve a better result than meal? With cows with grass up to their knees and wanting to get out of that paddock seems to me
that paddock would have been better mown for hay. Weeds, I can take you back a few years when ragwort was a real problem in South Taranaki, no chemicals then, just sodium chlorate, which is now unobtainable. Not to mention giant buttercup, which was the bane of dairying on some South Taranaki farms. The question is how long would it be before those weeds became reestablished back in Taranaki? One cannot read every article on regenerative agriculture but your article, Jannette, lacks numbers. The milksolids, empty rate and culls and profit per hectare, R and M, in comparison with the district and for the years you have been practising regenerative farming. Your article is not very convincing to changing our dairying system so if regen ag cannot wait for science show me the money. Neville Wallace Hawera
