TRANSITIONING THE NEW ZEALAND ONION INDUSTRY FROM HUMBLE TO HERO Words by Brittany McCloy : Onions NZ Inc.
Onions New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) have entered into a partnership under the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFFF). This will be the first sector accelerator partnership with the MPI. This partnership will invest in the differentiation and resiliency of New Zealand Onion exports over the next six years. Onions New Zealand would like to acknowledge the co-funding of $2.8 million committed by MPI.
High Level detail • Six-year research programme with joint industrygovernment funding, which started 1 July 2021 • $6.02 million investment over the life of the programme • Three key themes of work which encompass ten workstreams • Ultimate goal is greater market diversification for the industry and increased value from onions exported. 64 NZGROWER : NOVEMBER 2021
What is ‘Humble to Hero’? This programme is made up of ten projects across the value chain. Together, they will be transformational for the onion industry. The projects fall within three themes: A Market validation and diversification: Centred on
identifying and opening up high-value export markets. This theme will reduce the industry’s dependency on the European Union and Indonesia. This will involve gathering information on potential markets, gaining or improving regulatory access, developing and validating markets.
B Enabling value: Focusing on making the New Zealand
onion sector more robust. This is the linchpin of our future market access. Acknowledging that globally, consumers and governments are demanding greater accountability from the food system. The projects in this theme will enhance the story of New Zealand onions with verifiable food safety credentials, robust industry information and understanding the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.
