Vegetable growers are about to launch a new campaign encouraging people to add one more vegetable to their meal or dish.
Set to be launched later this month, it builds on the well-established five-plus a day campaign but Vegetables NZ chair John Murphy said it tempers that earlier message.
The new message is to add one more vegetable to a dish or meal, such as tomato to avocado on toast, radish to a salad or zucchini alongside the grated carrot being added to bolognaise.
Murphy said not only is it good for the health of the consumer but it adds different flavours.
He is confident the coalition government acknowledges the importance of New Zealand’s highly productive land and the importance of the vegetable industry in providing food security.
He said the government still needs to provide the sector and food production generally with some protection by ensuring growing vegetables remains a permitted activity following reform of the Resource Management Act (RMA).
“Essentially it needs to be recognised in the RMA and it is an essential pathway for growers that vegetable growing is a permitted activity.”
The government has also introduced a fast track consenting process for selected development projects and signalled it wants to free up more land for residential development.
That could threaten high-class soils in the vegetable-growing regions of Pukekohe and North Waikato as Auckland’s appetite for residential development sees the city continue to expand.
Murphy said the devil will be in the detail, but he is confident food security will be at the core of any decisions and said the government acknowledges the importance of protecting rare high-quality soils.
He said industry standards ensure that activities and management essential for vegetable growing are done correctly such as using water, fertiliser and chemicals.
He would like these standards to be acknowledged better by local authorities.
“They need to match the policies for what is needed,” he said.
While bordering our most populous region can risk urban encroachment, Murphy said there are also benefits for growers being on the doorstep of our most populous city, providing ready access to a large market and labour.
A shortage of labour was alleviated when the border restrictions were lifted after covid, but Murphy said his board is aware they need to look to the future, to promote opportunities and encourage people to look for careers in the sector.
