KEY POINTS:
The United Nations says food security is when "all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".
Food security is not just about there being enough food available; it is about being able to access food - and this is one reason why the global food price crisis hits home.
Despite living in a lush land which produces vastly more food than we can eat, we are part of that global price spiral and are paying international prices for a block of cheese or litre of milk at the local supermarket, even though it is home-grown.
As some shoppers report they can't afford to buy cheese any more, the question is, does New Zealand need a domestic food security strategy?
Green Party food spokesperson Sue Kedgley argues vehemently that we do. But Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton says we need such a policy as much as we need one to prepare for when Martians land.
"It's like, should we have something and put a lot of time and effort into something that is of no use?"
Anderton asks: what are the chances of New Zealand running out of food?
"The answer is .00001 recurring. We have more land than we can throw a stick at and if we wanted to produce food quickly over and above what we've used now, we could."
If there was a nuclear war in the northern hemisphere and we had to feed ourselves promptly we could do it in no time, he says.
Kedgley believes the minister is being short-sighted. Affordability is an integral part of food security, she says.
"We might be growing a lot of dairy but those very foods that we're growing in New Zealand are priced beyond most New Zealanders."
She wants us to plan ahead, to make ourselves more resilient and diverse in the foods we grow, to be more self-sufficient.
Kedgley points out that we import two billion tonnes of food a year at a value of around $3 billion. About half the food we buy is imported and much of that is processed foods and wheat and grain-based foods.
"We need the strategy to survive interruptions in things like wheat, corn and rice and encourage these to be grown in New Zealand," says Kedgley. "What I'm saying is that at the moment we're frantically converting everything to dairy and it would make sense to have as diverse a food supply as possible and try to reduce our dependence on imported staples."
Anderton, though, says New Zealand has produced a lot more wheat this year than previously and that this is all about the global market and how it works.
"The wheat supplies have been growing and part of the reason is they [farmers] are getting paid more for it."
New Zealand is a highly efficient agricultural nation and we need to trade with the world, he says. We earn 65 per cent of our entire merchandise goods export earnings from agriculture - it's why we are a First World country.
In fact, New Zealand is more dependent than any other country in the world on our agricultural exports, sending off 95 per cent of our dairy, 90 per cent of our meat and 80-plus per cent of our horticulture.
"We export it. We can't eat it. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't. And if we stopped doing that we would slide into Third World territory," says Anderton.
"This is what we depend on to maintain a decent environmental system in New Zealand, a decent social system, a decent economic system. We have to depend on trading with the rest of the world. And we need the rest of the world more than they need us."
ON THE HOME FRONT
Jim Anderton
"The answer is to lift incomes at home. And the Government has," he says. "Take Working for Families. A family of two children on an average wage pays virtually no tax. They are getting $100 to $200 a week more, they can now afford to pay a bit more for milk and cheese.
"The average wage has risen from $7 an hour in 1999 to $12 an hour.
"Remove GST from the food basics? The Australians and British exclude basic foods from GST and the Public Health Association is pushing for the same. It's not going to happen."
National says this is too complicated and though Anderton is not a fan of GST, the tax is here.
Sue Kedgley
"Encourage community agriculture and edible gardens, and there are small initiatives taking place.
"On Waiheke Island, the council is planting fruit trees on reserves and planted basil and chilli in the flowerbeds outside the office then invites people to come and help themselves."
Small things, but these all count, Kedgley says.
"All of us who can, grow some of our own vegetables," she says. "In a generation or two we've lost those skills and need to get them back."
For urbanites without the space, she says there is a need to look at the concept of community gardens.
