Will increased compliance promote growth?
A blog from Mike Chapman CEO of Horticulture NZ asks the question "Will increased compliance promote growth"?He says it depends on what the requirements are.
Over the past compliance for growers exponentially increased. A few examples include requirements under the Food Act, an avalanche of environmental requirements, and consents required for changing the types of vegetables that are grown. In addition, extensive and complicated compliance rules and approval regimes have been imposed on growers, adding cost and time to their business before they can grow their vegetables and fruit.
A prime example is reasonable access to water and water storage. We are told that climate change, in addition to causing increased adverse weather events, will be increased dry periods, especially on the eastern side of New Zealand. Plants need water to grow and enabling water storage and projects for aquifer recharge should be prioritised and supported by both regional and central government.
Even the most simple water storage projects take years and thousands of dollars to just get to the stage of construction, so we need to be planning ahead. This is something that must be sorted out to enable us to feed New Zealand.