How A Lighter Touch started

History

In 2015 some of New Zealand’s horticultural crop groups realised they had a problem.

Many of the crop protection products they depended on were being phased out and new products were not readily available. This was making the production of high quality fruit and vegetables more challenging.

On a global scale, the New Zealand market for crop protection products is small, and many fruit and vegetable crops grown in New Zealand are produced in small volumes. In many situations, the business case for registering products for use on these “minor crops” didn’t stack up.

Concerns were also growing that a limited suite of crop protection products was increasing the risk that pests and diseases might develop resistance to available products. Many crop groups were proactive in funding research and working with crop protection companies, but there didn’t appear to be a long-term solution to the lack of ‘minor use’ registrations.

At the same time there was growing awareness that consumers are increasingly asking for food that is as free from chemical residues as possible, is grown sustainably, and is ethically produced. They are willing to pay a premium for this. To take advantage of this opportunity, a step-change in the industry’s approach to crop production needs to occur.

What arose was the realisation of an opportunity to collaborate across the horticulture, arable and wine sectors to motivate and equip growers to change their approach to crop protection towards a lighter environmental touch. What resulted is ‘A Lighter Touch’: a programme supporting growers to shift from a reliance on agri-chemistry to more sustainable crop protection practices.

Current situation

The plant-based food sector, incorporating horticulture, arable cropping, and wine production, generates over $11 billion annually.

New Zealand horticulture is valued at over $7.48 billion, with $4.67 billion in exports, produced by more than 4500 commercial fruit and vegetable growers. The arable industry contributes $2.1 billion to the economy from domestically consumed grain and food crops, and seed exports. The wine industry produces $2.1 billion of wine for export sale, with 90 percent of production exported.

Insights and issues

Opportunities

A unique opportunity has opened up for New Zealand to become the world’s preferred supplier of plant-based food products. Brand, reputation and provenance of food are now important to consumers. To take advantage of this rapidly emerging market, and protect the reputation of New Zealand food, the plant-based food sector has come together to change its approach to crop production.

Challenges

The transition to agroecology is a long-term process. New Zealand has other challenges – lack of scale, the idea that it’s difficult to transition from traditional to agroecological crop protection, few drivers for change, lack of industry and market pull, and a lack of proof of concept, as well as the pressures of producing crops efficiently, economically and meeting importing country biosecurity requirements.

Solution

A Lighter Touch brings together the horticulture, wine and arable sectors to motivate and equip growers to change their approach to crop protection towards a lighter environmental touch.

It is an industry-led behaviour change programme: working with growers and industry leaders to create the conditions for a long-term shift from agri-chemicals reliance to agro-ecological crop protection practices.

The programme presents a level of collaboration, knowledge sharing and funding never before seen in New Zealand.