YOUR LEVY AT WORK

Michelle Sands : HortNZ strategy and policy manager

This month, Horticulture New Zealand submitted on the Natural and Built Environment Bill (NBB) and the Spatial Planning Bill (SPB), the first two of three acts that will replace the Resource Management Act (RMA). Our submission made clear that the reforms are being pushed through too quickly without enough time for public engagement. In terms of the details, the NBB sets out priorities for the National Planning Framework, a new document that will guide all planning decisions around the country. We asked that food be included as a “system outcome” and a matter that the National Planning Framework must address, which would carry down to all regional plans.

We also emphasised that the proposed 10-year maximum water consents are not nearly long enough. Instead, we argued that consent duration should be linked to how well an activity is meeting the Bill’s outcomes, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. Horticulture is a low-emissions industry that protects the resilience of our national food supply, which we think should be rewarded with more resource certainty.

HortNZ also submitted on the Review into the Future for Local Government Draft Report, which imagines what local governmentʼs responsibilities will be after their powers are changed by the RMA reform. The report contained a chapter about promoting wellbeing, so we focused our submission on why food production is essential for social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing in New Zealand. We challenged local government to invest in innovation hubs, like one currently being planned in the vegetable sector, that bring growers, university and private researchers, iwi and policymakers together to discover horticultural solutions for the future and train the next generation of food producers. We also called for flexible planning decisions that will allow for horticultural expansion across the rural-urban divide. If local governments are going to start coordinating with each other more, as the Draft Report suggests, a coordinated approach to food security would connect policy supporting growers to ensuring a healthy, well-fed population in the best interest of the nation at large.

In early February, the government confidentially released an exposure draft of the Freshwater Farm Plan Regulations to select individuals and organisations, including Horticulture New Zealand.

HortNZ prepared a submission on the exposure draft. A key submission point was the inadequate public consultation on the exposure draft, and the primary legislation that supports it in Part 9A of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020.

The confidential nature of the consultation limited the ability of HortNZ to consult with its members. In addition, Part 9A of the RMA was passed under urgency in 2020 without the benefit of public scrutiny through the select committee process. This limited the ability of people like growers, who will be most impacted by these regulations, to provide input and feedback.

HortNZ continues to seek a workable pathway in the regulations for industry assurance programmes, like GAP, to deliver audited and certified freshwater farm plans. And that audit and certification is consistent with the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) framework and international practice.

Marlborough District Council notified the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan for public consultation in June 2016. The ʼdecisionʼ version was notified in February 2020. The decision was appealed, and HortNZ is participating in mediation.

HortNZ has been mediating on the water quality topic and has included advocating for the quality of irrigation water to support food production and for an approach that provides for cultivation with mitigation to manage soil loss.

The Otago Regional Policy Statement sets the direction for future management of Otagoʼs natural and physical resources. The Regional Policy Statement establishes the framework for Otagoʼs regional and district plans.

HortNZ has been presenting planning and industry evidence at the hearings. One of the topics HortNZ has been promoting is the need for greater emphasis on the rural environment.