Skip to main content

Archived 2005 Agriculture and Rural Affairs Policy

Russel Norman MP
Russel Norman MP
russel [dot] norman [at] parliament [dot] govt [dot] nz (Email)

Note: This was the policy released for the 2005 election. An updated policy for the 2008 election will be released shortly.

Read the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Policy Summary



Contents

Definitions

Introduction

Vision

Key Principles

Specific Policy Points

  1. Using Rural Land in Ecological Sustainable Ways
  2. Fostering the Organic Sector
  3. Sustainable Rural Communities
  4. Trade Policy
  5. Treatment of Animals
  6. Genetic Engineering: Keep it in the Lab
  7. Biosecurity
  8. Rural-Urban Linkages
  9. Public Access
  10. Te Tiriti

Definitions

"Ecosystem Services":'Ecosystem Services': Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems including:

  • provisioning services - food, water, timber, fibre;
  • regulating services that affect climate, floods, disease, wastes and water quality;
  • cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic and spiritual benefits;
  • supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis and nutrient cycling (see Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).

Introduction

The Green Party believes a strong agricultural sector is essential to a sustainable New Zealand and that economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture is only feasible when the community as a whole makes it a high priority.

We believe the farmer plays a vital dual role as an environmental steward and as a purveyor of clean, wholesome food, a basic necessity for life. We strongly support the many farmers who are already taking measures to conserve the environment through their sustainable practice.

We also believe small to medium size holdings make an important contribution to economically, socially, ecologically, and environmentally sustainable agriculture. New Zealand farmers are beginning to face some of the same pressures (escalating land prices and energy costs, high interest and exchange rates, and competition from low cost food imports) that have resulted in corporate agriculture replacing family farming in Europe and North America. Not only do these pressures force farmers to 'over-farm' their land in ways that are detrimental to the environment, they also cause personal and family stress.


Please see the Green Party's Environment, Conservation, Animal Welfare, Housing, Water, Safe Food and Urban policies for other relevant information.

Vision

The Green Party envisions a rural New Zealand in which:

  • Land is valued both for its potential to produce healthy food and fibre and for its amenity, cultural, spiritual, historical, conservation and ecological services.
  • Rural land is managed sustainably to ensure that its productive potential is protected and enhanced.
  • Rural land is managed sustainably to ensure that vital ecosystem services are maintained.
  • Rural communities have a high quality of life and good access to a diverse range of social, economic, educational and recreational opportunities.
  • The majority of New Zealanders derive most of their diet from locally grown food.
  • Through economic and trade reform and programmes such as Community Supported Agriculture, the 'family' farm is no longer under threat.

Key Principles

  1. Society as a whole has a responsibility to practice good stewardship of rural land, and the urban sector should support the rural sector to carry this out.
  2. All rural production land should be managed in environmentally and ecologically sustainable ways, for primary production and for the provision of ecosystem services.
  3. Rural communities should be attractive places to live, providing for the economic, educational, health and social needs of residents.
  4. Farms must be able to provide a livelihood for people who live on them.
  5. Rural land use has a key role to play in climate change mitigation.
  6. Cooperative activities (e.g. production, marketing, conservation), including hapu-based ones, can be efficient economically and are socially desirable.
  7. Animals used in primary production should be treated humanely and with respect throughout their lives.
  8. The New Zealand environment must be kept GE free.
  9. Trade policy relating to primary production must not override social and environmental goals.
  10. New Zealand should focus its exports on producing high quality, high value products rather than relatively low value commodities.
  11. To be economically, environmentally and ecologically sustainable, local food production for local use must take precedence over production for export.
  12. New Zealand's ability to sell its products in top-end markets is strongly related to the international image of our comparatively unspoiled environment.
  13. New Zealand's freedom from many pests and diseases is of immeasurable importance to primary production and protecting ecosystem services.

Specific Policy Points

1. Using rural land in environmentally sustainable ways.

Agriculture, horticulture and forestry account for significant export earnings so our economic well-being is highly dependent on the primary sector.

However, agriculture is responsible for half of our emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. It has also destroyed almost all of our lowland indigenous forest and wetland habitat. Agriculture and horticulture account for three quarters of water use in New Zealand and are major contributors to degradation of water quality. Recent comprehensive reports demonstrate that rural land use is increasingly unsustainable, causing unacceptable damage to both the productive base and the associated natural environment.

This must change. Primary production doesn't need to be damaging. It can work with nature to protect soil and water resources and to support the other values associated with rural land. A stronger stewardship ethos must be developed and the responsibility for implementing this ethos must be shared by all New Zealanders.
To help achieve our vision, the Green Party will:

  1. Develop a strategy for environmentally and ecologically sustainable rural land use that includes:
    1. A requirement for the development and implementation of sustainable land and water management plans at catchment level and farm level - (e.g. nutrient budgets, stocking rate limits, riparian plantings, water extraction limits, diversification of land use).
    2. Matching of land use to land use capability, ( e.g. highly erodable hill country could be taken out of pasture and planted in suitable indigenous or exotic forest species for timber production where sustainable, land protection, greenhouse gas emission compensation, and biodiversity enhancement purposes).
    3. Incentives to use sustainable production practices and disincentives for unsustainable practices.
    4. Incentives for maintaining or enhancing the environment, such as maintaining or enhancing water quality by riparian plantings, or by preventing soil erosion and nutrient runoff.
    5. Reducing the dependence of current rural land use on energy, especially oil (particularly for soil cultivation, irrigation, and inputs such as fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides).
    6. Addressing the impacts of rural land use on climate (e.g. both methane and nitrous oxide production by animals, and the role of soil and forest carbon sinks).
    7. Addressing the impacts of rural land use on water quality (with requirements for stronger water take and discharge consent conditions and for regional councils to enforce these conditions). (Note: See Water Policy for more detail).
    8. Decreasing the use of agrichemicals including setting targets for reduction and levies on their use.
    9. Implementing rules for notifying neighbours when agrichemicals able to be dispersed through the air will be used.
    10. Prohibiting cross-boundary spray drift where consent is not given by neighbouring landholders.
    11. Increasing the diversity of tree species grown for timber, especially encouraging those that provide high quality timber and those that do not need to be treated chemically for above ground use (e.g. macrocarpa, cedar).
    12. Funding the reestablishment and maintenance of wetlands, lowland forests and green corridors that enhance biodiversity.
    13. Increasing the Sustainable Farming Fund and ensuring it is used only to support conversion to sustainable land use.
    14. Promoting and facilitating the localised and farm based processing of products, with stronger linking of production to the processing industry (more specialised and unique products).
    15. Funding of pilot schemes to enable development of local marketing initiatives.
    16. Funding more research and extension to support the conversion to diverse, sustainable land use.
    17. Developing the infrastructure for economically viable biofuel production.
    18. Enhancing the role of regional councils in supporting sustainable land use.
    19. Limiting urban sprawl. (see Housing Policy for further detail).
    20. Educating for careers in the rural economy.
    21. Encouraging the preservation of heritage seeds to maintain species diversity.

The Green Party believes that farmers need to be supported in the transition to sustainable agriculture and horticulture practices. The Green Party will:

  1. Facilitate compliance with new sustainability regulations.
  2. Facilitate the transition to more economically, environmentally and ecologically sustainable land use.

2. Fostering the organic sector

Organic production sets the standard for sustainable land management but has received only sporadic and insufficient support for development. The Green Party views organics as a model that can be used to guide the rest of the primary production sector in developing environmentally sustainable systems.

To realise our vision of an increasing proportion of New Zealand's primary production being organic, the Green Party will:

  1. Work towards the target of half of New Zealand's production becoming certified organic by 2020, with the remainder in the process of conversion. As a first step towards this target, the Green Party aims to have 10% of farms certified organic or in conversion by 2010.
  2. Contribute seed funding for the initial operation of Organics Aotearoa New Zealand, the umbrella organisation for the organics sector.
  3. Provide 75% of organic certification fees up to maximum of $1000.
  4. Support a mentoring scheme between experienced and novice organic producers.
  5. Investigate and work towards remedying the barriers that prevent people converting to organic management of their land (e.g. a suspensory loan to assist with mortgage repayments during the period of transition).
  6. Increase funding for research into the development of organic systems design and practice.
  7. Encourage development of more educational opportunities in organic production.
  8. Set the New Zealand Organic Standard as the minimum standard for internal organic production.
  9. Promote consumer awareness of the different standards of organic production that exist and require clear labelling of certified organic products.

3. Sustainable rural communities

Many rural communities have become ghosts of their former selves as services have declined because of government policy and because of the substitution of capital for labour in rural enterprise. When an area no longer has schools, health care services and opportunities for social interaction, most people are unwilling to live there.

The Green Party believes that rural living and working can be attractive to more New Zealanders. The Green Party will:

  1. Develop a strategy for ensuring the sustainability of rural communities that includes:
    1. Essential infrastructure in rural towns such as potable water supply and wastewater treatment systems.
    2. Access to basic services such as education, health, communication and justice. This may require a higher per person expenditure for these services in rural areas than in urban areas.
    3. Encouraging people to move to rural towns and areas to work, especially in activities that contribute to sustainable land use, and to establish businesses, especially those involved in adding value to primary products. This is predicated on appropriate infrastructure and services being in place to meet the needs of increased populations.
    4. Encouraging the development of sustainable processing plants for co-operative ventures run by local producers.
    5. Addressing security of tenure of rural land to give people confidence in decision-making about land management, and involvement in their communities.
  2. Reserve land ownership for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.
  3. Amend the Overseas Investment Act to restrict the sale of high country property to New Zealand citizens or residents who reside in New Zealand for at least 185 days a year for three years before purchase.
  4. Enact legislation to limit the growth of corporate farming.

4. Trade Policy

Historically, New Zealand has been a provider of food and fibre for other countries. More production was seen as good. However, we cannot continue to increase production indefinitely without exceeding the limits of sustainability. The current 'free trade' ideology sends the strong signals to farmers to produce more and to reduce production costs to be competitive.

Our approach to trade should be tempered by common sense. We believe, for example, that importing sweetened condensed milk from Chile and Malaysia is not only absurd when we can make it here, it is also inherently unsustainable given the dwindling oil supply (peak oil) scenario and the threats posed by climate change.

The Green Party will work to refocus New Zealand's trade policy so that it supports a sustainable economy and environment. The Green Party supports a trade policy that:

  1. Meets the needs of individuals and communities as consumers, producers, employers and employees.
  2. Continues to target high value markets with high added-value products but decreases the quantity of product exported.
  3. Continues to use the clean, green image in marketing New Zealand produce but backs it up by making the image a reality.
  4. Capitalises on our continuing GE free status.
  5. Requires all food and fibre products intended for export to be certified as sustainably and fairly produced.
  6. Is focused on import substitution.
  7. Includes the development of a national line of vessels powered by renewable energy sources (they are already in development) to counter the criticism that our products are highly energy intensive because of the distance they are transported to overseas markets.
  8. Focuses on supplying closer rather than distant markets.
  9. Supports cooperative processing and marketing.

5. Treatment of Animals

The Green Party believes that all animals are sentient beings who experience pain, suffering, and pleasure in much the same way as humans do. Therefore, we believe all must be treated with compassion and respect, and if they are to be killed that this must be done in the most humane way. Animals used in agriculture should be provided with all the essentials of food, water, and protection from things that could harm them, and should be given the freedom to move and express normal forms of behaviour. The Green Party will work with farmers to improve the treatment of animals.

It is likely that animal welfare concerns will become more important determinants of consumer purchasing behaviour. Consumers will reward producers who address animal welfare concerns, especially in high value markets. The Green Party will seek to improve the way in which animals are treated in agriculture.

Specifically, the Green Party will work with farmers and other stakeholders to:

  1. Develop standards for the provision of shade and shelter for all stock.
  2. Prohibit immediately the transport by sea of live farm animals for any purpose where the sea journey exceeds 24 hours. Breeding material would still be able to be exchanged through semen, egg and embryo import and export.
  3. Set maximum travel times for animals that are more humane than current limits.
  4. Phase out within 5 years the use of crates for sows.
  5. Phase out within 5 years the use of battery cages for hens.
  6. Prohibit new, and phase out existing, factory farming of animals, including highly intensive outdoor facilities such as feedlots and indoor facilities such as battery hen farms.
  7. Support the breeding of genetic lines with inherent disease resistance and discourage the use of breeds with inherent deformities or susceptibilities.

6. Genetic Engineering- keep it in the lab

The Green Party's position is that genetic engineering (GE) should occur within a contained laboratory setting only. Our food and our environment must be kept GE free.

To this end, the Green Party will:

  1. Ban the commercial release and field trials of GE organisms.
  2. Prohibit field-testing or production of GE foods within New Zealand.
  3. Require any imported food containing any GE ingredients to be clearly labelled, and work towards a ban on GE food imports.
  4. Require safety testing for any imported GE food or commodity that is allowed to enter the New Zealand food supply.
  5. Allow gene technology in secure containment to continue to be used subject to assessment by the Environmental Risk Management Agency.

7. Biosecurity

One of the greatest advantages New Zealand's primary production sector has over the rest of the world is its freedom from numerous pests and diseases. We must take strong measures to maintain this status by having a strict border security, quarantine and internal biosecurity regime and capacity.

Recent changes to our biosecurity system have resulted in great improvements but there are still too many incursions that require responses. The Green Party believes the system should have higher standards including more stringent inspections overseas.

The Green Party will:

  1. Institute a system of testing the container inspection carried out by accredited persons. The current auditing is inadequate to ensure that accredited persons are reliably carrying out their expected roles.
  2. Institute a biosecurity services levy on all containers and passengers arriving in New Zealand.
  3. Ensure that a high-level quarantine facility is maintained, and that it has the capacity to cope with a larger range of organisms.
  4. Build on the work of regional councils to develop stronger plant and animal movement controls within the country to help avoid the spread of pest plants and plant and animal diseases.
  5. Require importers to pay the full cost of eradication when negligence or non-compliance has been demonstrated.
  6. Amend the Biosecurity Act to:
    1. Include, as its purpose, the need to protect New Zealand from pests, diseases, and GE organisms.
    2. Require regional councils to develop pest management strategies that cover both private and public land.
    3. Encourage the preparation of pest management strategies that are area/ecosystem based strategies as well as species based.


Preventing BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and MAP (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis)

No cases of BSE have been reported in New Zealand, and we want to keep it that way. To further reduce the risk of diseases such as BSE entering New Zealand, we need to follow World Health Organisation advice and global best practice. The Green Party will:

  1. Prohibit the use of mechanically recovered meat in the food chain.
  2. Require high temperature rendering at all rendering plants.
  3. Remove high-risk material from carcasses before they enter the food chain.
  4. Allow imports of cattle semen and embryos from certified organic or very safe isolated herds only.
  5. Prohibit the use of the ground-up remains of sheep and cows as stock feed.
  6. Establish a definitive policy for controlling Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) in New Zealand sheep and dairy herds.

8. Rural — Urban Linkages

There is a growing disconnection between rural and urban parts of our country. Some rural people feel that urban perspectives are increasingly dictating what they can and cannot do. At the same time they feel pressured by market demands for cost-cutting. The Green Party believes that the growing disconnection between urban and rural peoples is not healthy and that greater understanding, and even cooperation, would result from increased interaction between rural and urban dwellers.

To help achieve this, the Green Party will:

  1. As part of the incorporation of environmental education into the core school curriculum, support the teaching of the origins and production of food, nutrition, and basic cooking and gardening skills.
  2. Foster consumer supported agriculture and direct marketing of produce to local consumers.
  3. Support urban people to engage more with landcare groups and volunteer on schemes such as WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms New Zealand, formerly Willing Workers on Organic Farms New Zealand).

9. Public Access

The Green Party generally supports the right of the public to access conservation areas and paper roads. We will:

  1. Support the creation of a public access commissioner to:
    1. Build relationships between landowners and land users.
    2. Develop a code of conduct for the public using access ways, in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, local government, land owners (including iwi), and other agencies/organisations as appropriate - with strong penalties for breaches.
    3. Provide financial support for landowners to erect signs and to fence their properties.
    4. Provide reliable geographic information on the location of public access ways of all types to users and landholders.
    5. Ensure existing paper roads remain open, are adequately marked, and that complaints concerning obstruction of them are resolved.
    6. Provide community mediation, work with councils and assist them to enforce the law and provide appropriate signage.
    7. Research and collect information from the public about land access issues, including difficulties.
    8. Two years after its establishment, report to Parliament about whether there is a need for legislation to resolve issues and improve public access to land.

10. Te Tiriti

Rural affairs operate within a Tiriti framework and rural communities need support to understand the relationship between hapu and the Crown. Institutions and programmes also need to support M

^ Back to Top