YOUR INDUSTRY
NZGAP YEAR IN REVIEW Words by Damien Farrelly : NZGAP manager
It has been another challenging yet successful year for the New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (NZGAP) scheme where we have continued the recognition, development and improvement of our integrated certification system. The system provides growers assurance for the safe and sustainable production of fruit and vegetables in New Zealand.
Strategy This year NZGAP embarked on a strategic review to help establish the future direction of the scheme, to ensure that NZGAP continues to service existing certificate holders and to pursue emerging needs and opportunities. Key considerations for the review were: • The long-term vision and purpose of NZGAP • Future scope of certification (i.e., what range of crops and products) • Future scope of standards (i.e., Food Safety, Social Practice, Environment) • Understanding future certification needs and drivers for members and stakeholders. Extensive stakeholder consultation was involved in the review, with all feedback collated by Primary Purpose for consideration by the NZGAP committee. Lockdowns have hindered workshops and delayed drafting of the new strategy, but the draft will be shared with key stakeholders in the new year for consultation before it is finalised and launched.
Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) NZGAP will soon commence the process for attaining GFSI recognition which is increasingly becoming a retailer requirement of GAP schemes worldwide. GFSI is an organisation run by the Consumer Goods Forum which benchmarks and recognises GAP standards so that grower certification can be accepted by retailers (e.g., GLOBALG.A.P.). The project will commence before the end of 2021, and it will take until September 2022 to complete the benchmarking, consultation, trialling, assessment and recognition process.
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From that point onwards, growers will be able to attain certification to the GFSI recognised NZGAP standard. Many markets are already requiring GFSI, so NZGAP and stakeholders are negotiating on a transitional phase to allow time for recognition and grower certification.
NZGAP remote With the unfortunate return of lockdowns, NZGAP has had to reinstate processes for remote auditing and certification. The ‘NZGAP Remote’ module enables offsite audit (record checks) and remote audits (interview and visual evidence of implementation), to ensure the continued credibility in certification where on-site audits were not possible. The module also enables blended audits under Alert Level 2, which are a combination of off-site (record checks) and on-site audits (interview and visual evidence of implementation). Like in 2020, registrations and certifications were also processed remotely, so growers could continue to produce and supply to market while operating as an essential service during lockdown.
GLOBALG.A.P. GLOBALG.A.P. is currently undertaking a major review of the standard for fruit and vegetables and the GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment for Social Practice (GRASP). NZGAP has provided feedback on the development of version 6 via the New Zealand GLOBALG.A.P. National Technical Working Group. Once version 6 has been finalised, NZGAP can commence benchmarking of NZGAP GLOBALG.A.P. Equivalent so it maintains recognition. The new standards for GLOBALG.A.P. and GRASP are in the final stages of development and will be finalised in mid-2022, then implemented by growers in early 2023.
Food Act add-on New Zealand Food Safety has renewed recognition of NZGAP (and GLOBALG.A.P.) under the Food Act 2014. NZGAP GLOBALG.A.P. Equivalent has also been added as a recognised standard. Continued recognition of the GAP standards is another major milestone in the development and delivery of an integrated assurance system that is effective and efficient for growers, while delivering on the outcome of producing safe and suitable food under the Food Act 2014.
