Call for long-term view on food production

By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter. Public Interest Journalism

Auckland Council has been urged to limit urban sprawl to protect agricultural production on the city’s fringes. Under the government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development, Auckland Council is required to review its Future Development Strategy.

At a council Rural Advisory Panel meeting on April 14, council staff asked for feedback on the strategy, sparking calls for council to be brave and prioritise food security in Auckland.

Pukekohe member Keith Vallabh said Auckland was a big city to feed and it was becoming increasingly difficult to grow food in other regions with new law changes.

“There are only certain areas in which you can grow food,” Vallabh said.

Member Geoff Smith said if council wanted to continue see food produced locally then it would need a nuanced strategy for the future development of Auckland.

“It will take a brave council to take a longer view rather than if they want to be elected next time round,” Smith said.

He said council needed to make the decision and get on with it as urban sprawl into rural areas was limiting the option to produce food locally and the city was rapidly “passing the point of no return”.

Member Andrew McKenzie said if New Zealand wanted to get serious about food security, the government needed to “back off our farms”.

“It is becoming harder and harder to produce food,” he said. “The next generation is going to think we are mad; we work all the time.

“The government is just nailing our arse to the wall and it is going to be very hard to make a living.”

Public consultation on the strategy, including the section on rural Auckland, is expected to start in June.