For generations New Zealand has prided itself on its ability to feed other countries’ citizens. From being the colonial farm supplying fat lamb carcasses and bulk butter to Mother England after World War II, to marketing SunGold kiwifruit and Sauvignon Blanc to Shanghai, millions have devoured the efforts of our primary sector.
Over that time Kiwis have also tended to take it for granted that much of the food we have sold offshore is also available to us here at home.
A generation ago, a “grow your own” culture supported that, with every house being on a quarter acre with a vegie garden and maybe a fruit tree. Today town houses are only required a metre each side and minimal yard space, often concreted over, and the loss of land to grow food on has been accompanied by a loss of knowledge on how to do so.
In the past months, the ability of New Zealanders to access and afford quality fresh food has been increasingly challenging, to the point the phrase “cost of living crisis” has been interchangeable with “soaring food prices.”
Covid’s effects have exacerbated the inequities academics and social workers had identified emerging prior to the pandemic, worsened by the loss of hours worked, entire jobs and businesses.
Meantime, the value of the food exported has continued to soar, with the ANZ Commodity Index reaching a historic high late last year as values for all food types, dairy, red meat and horticulture all hit record peaks at the same time.
Elaine Rush, Professor of Nutrition at Auckland University of Technology has noted with dismay the surge food prices took in January, up 2.7% in one month alone, with vegetables surging 6%.
This has taken annualised food price increase to 6%, the biggest annual increase since 2011.
Significantly, in the past ten years, or 120 months, Statistics NZ has only reported 20 months where food prices fell.
Rush says the lift in prices is not entirely unexpected as the world grapples with high rates of inflation, a tightening of food supplies globally in part, due to climate change and now a war waging in Ukraine.
Rush says food insecurity is now a real issue in this land of plenty, where some households may pass days without any food in the house.
But she also points to deeper issues including a lack of transport to access a supermarket, lack of education in how to properly prepare quality food, and insufficient time in households where often adults may hold down multiple jobs each to meet the bills.
And the irony that the country producing some of the healthiest food on the planet has the third highest obesity rate in the OECD is not lost on her.
“New Zealand produces a surfeit of food, more than enough for food sovereignty and self-sufficiency but we import, feed for animals, most of our cereal and grain crops, and do not produce enough green leafy vegetables or legumes to enable New Zealand people to eat well locally.”
Earlier work by Rush has determined the often-made claim New Zealand can feed 40 million people is largely true.
In fact, her number crunching has found New Zealand can feed 39 million with dairy products, 11.5 million with red meat, 10 million for fruit and 2 million for vegetables.
But work by Rush on how well New Zealand is meeting the nutritional goal of “5-plus a day” has highlighted the imbalances in our domestic food supply, compared to our exported products, and how that that imbalance contributes to a deterioration in the nation’s health.
Taking the average production of vegetables from 2017 to 2020, her and her colleague Fiona Curran-Cournane determined New Zealand produces 11.7 serves of vegetables per person per day, ostensibly enough to meet dietary targets.
However, of this 70% is potatoes, onions, and carrots, of which a third were exported.
There was inadequate production of legumes and dark green leafy vegetables, all of which amounted to a mere two thirds of a serving per person per day.
Overall, about 60% of Kiwis are not meeting their “5-plus” target, yet NZ is exporting about $5 billion in fruit and vegetables a year.
“There is a need here for an environmentally sustainable and diverse supply of vegetables for domestic use, while also confronting the environmental impacts intensive conventional outdoor vegetable production can have,” she says.
And while our high-quality food products are exported to the world, what is coming back into New Zealand is proving a contrast.
The largest quantities of imports are wheat and sugar, often processed into lower value food products, two thirds of which are carbohydrates.
Food energy sufficient to feed 10 million people is imported into New Zealand, albeit as a poorer quality of energy, reflecting greater levels of processing and fibre degradation.
In light of the disparities in food types coming in and being exported, Rush maintains New Zealanders need a wider food policy that cuts across social and trade policies, in a country clearly capable of growing the food needed to feed itself well.
Her work supports the much debated “sugar tax” on soft drinks, and a call for greater access to fresh tap water in public places.
Considering the stresses, a reliance upon imported grains is bringing with the Ukraine crisis, it also supports a case for New Zealand’s arable sector to be better supported by processors.
Rush also maintains the need for a policy that allows for the expansion of the area used for vegetables, which presently only account for .2% of the total land area of New Zealand. This in turn demands greater recognition of the country’s high value soils so capable of growing good greens and protecting them from the risk of being concreted over for housing and infrastructure.
Lincoln University Agribusiness Professor Dr Hamish Gow acknowledges the importance high value food exports have played in generating wealth in provincial New Zealand.
But he cautions the growing cost of food poses a challenge to the farming sector’s social licence in a way never witnessed before.
“From a farmer’s point of view, they have aimed to try and maximise the value of their products for the highest possible price, and don’t deal much with the domestic consumer.”
“A generation ago most people had connections to farmers and understood farmers.”
“Today we have larger urban populations with no connection. They may be first generation migrants, they may never have been on a farm, they don’t necessarily care about farming, but they do care about what their food is costing them.”
With food prices soaring, he sees the farming sector as vulnerable to criticism from consumers for receiving high commodity prices.
“But the fact you can buy New Zealand products overseas cheaper than they are sold here suggests it is not farmers at fault, but domestic distribution networks here at home.”
“Farmers become easy targets when food gets expensive, but ultimately, they are price takers, whether it is sold domestically or internationally.”
It is also an issue spearheaded by the supermarket duopoly, and the apparent lack of action by the Commerce Commission to undo that.
“It is a huge challenge in front of us to have this discussion on domestic food affordability versus exported returns. We have this real conflict arising between the agricultural producer side, and the domestic consumer side.
“There is a mis-alignment of incentives there that leaves the local food system broken.”
“There is no place that is considered unbiased and trusted when it comes to policy debate, unlike what you may find in the European Union and United States.”
In the case of the EU, it also has a culture of food security policy, having suffered devastating shortages after World War II and striving to avoid them ever since.
He does take heart from greater engagement with iwi on issues of sustainability and community care, and a need to look out for family health and wellbeing.
“It is quite likely they may well become our conscience on issues like this.”
Words by Richard Rennie