A call to action for agbusiness

happen. We must pay for the work to recover our food production capabilities.”

BUSINESS should be prepared to spend now or suffer later as farmers and growers grapple to restore crucial food-producing capacity in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.

This was the urgent message from Toha co-founder Nathalie Whitaker, who told the E Tipu IFAMA 2023 World Conference in Christchurch that the industry cannot wait for the government to show it the way.

Toha is an independent technology infrastructure company that offers carbon credits outside of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Following Gabrielle, Whitaker directed Toha’s expertise into the East Coast Exchange, a community-led organisation based in Gisborne that is keeping a public record of the work happening on the ground in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.

Whitaker said she had been hesitant to leave Gisborne to attend the conference but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a plea to industry leaders.

“On behalf of the East Coast I need to ask for your help,” she said. “We can’t build nature-based solutions unless we’re prepared to pay those on the ground to make it

It cannot be left to the government because the threeyear cycle gives food producers no certainty.

“We need to move faster than the politics. Wellington doesn’t set the pace and 2030 is coming very fast.”

The East Coast Exchange created a public record so people could get on with helping each other knowing the funds would flow later.

Despite hers being a team of technology professionals, Whitaker realised that after a weather event of this size it was Post-it notes and clipboards that were most helpful in the first days of the recovery.

“We’re not an emergency response charity, we’re a climate data co-op, but we did what we could.”

What the exchange did achieve was to protect the trust that is embedded in the coast community.

But as public interest waned it was important to keep up the momentum with funding and commitment from the wider food production industry.

“If you know of resources or funding that should get to cyclone-hit farmers, help us close the gap.”

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