Kia Rite: NZ food production must change to compete in a net-zero future

Dr Nicky Solomon says although New Zealand provides only a fraction of the world’s food, the world takes more than 75 per cent of the primary products we produce. Photo / File

With food production being an enormous part of our regional and national economy, we are heading into an exhilarating and mildly terrifying time with myriad challenges and opportunities.

Export revenue for the food and fibre sector is forecast to hit a record $52.2 billion this year, a 9 per cent increase over the previous year. Good news, right? We are fortunate to have a strong primary sector that supports our economy and became our biggest export earner when Covid decimated our tourism sector.

With so many of us relying on the sector for our livelihoods, our lifestyles, our ability to feed our local population, as well as the export dollars that allow us to purchase essential imported products, we urgently need a mature dialogue around protecting and future-proofing this sector.

Climate change has already altered the way we plan for land use, and it will alter the way we grow and export food.

We no longer have time to transition gradually and it is imperative that we front-foot the required change now, to have some agency in what is coming our way. If we sit on our hands, change will be foisted upon us in ways that will be more unpleasant than if we take the initiative, take up the challenge and seize the opportunity.

Dr Nicky Solomon from Food & Beverage Hawke’s Bay. Photo / Supplied

We provide only a fraction of the world’s food, but the world takes more than 75 per cent of the primary products that we produce. That means that if we miss the opportunity, we will desperately miss the income these exports provide, but the world will barely notice our pain.

So, what is this opportunity and what do we do about it?

Multinationals and large retailers are committed to a net-zero emissions future. That will trickle down the supply chain to the point where products and their ingredients will need to meet net-zero requirements.

Using Nestle as just one example – nearly two-thirds of their greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, so they are committed to ambitious targets to source key ingredients from regenerative agricultural methods (20 per cent by 2025 and 50 per cent by 2030).

Therein lies the challenge and the opportunity – we need to understand what our big customers want and develop food production practices to deliver on those requirements. The alternative sees us stuck playing in the low-value commodity space as we are slowly squeezed from supplying high-value customers and markets.

We need strategic and visionary public policy which clearly articulates how Aotearoa builds upon its strengths and natural advantages to maintain its place in the world of food production.

We need urgent and targeted investment in technology and intellectual property to enable sustainable food production. The world needs to feed an ever-growing population. Smart, efficient, and planet-positive food production systems will be in high demand.

Our agricultural legacy has provided us with efficient and cost-effective growing systems, and extensive intellectual property around product and process development, market development, and the power of collectivising to work together onshore to compete offshore.

Along with geopolitical forces, emissions and planetary impact will be used to restrict market access, but by working together and being masterfully strategic we can find Hawke’s Bay’s place in the world of future food production. Let’s seize the opportunity and be part of the solution.

• Thoughts? Ideas for a future Kia Rite column? Get in touch climateaction@hbrc.govt.nz