The ability to protect horticultural crops

Most New Zealanders will never need to navigate the regulatory system for crop protection products.

But everyone who puts fruit and vegetables in a shopping basket has a stake in whether that system works.

It’s one of the reasons why Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) welcomes changes to the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act.

For those that don’t know, the Ministry for Primary Industries uses this Act to ensure crop protection products work as claimed and can be used without unacceptable risks to people, animals, the environment or trade.

Government reforms are intended to reduce unnecessary duplication, make better use of assessments completed by trusted overseas regulators and help safe, effective crop protection tools reach growers sooner.

This can sound technical; however, its real-world effect is not.

When growers have too few ways to control pests and diseases, more produce is lost before it reaches the packhouse, supermarket or local market.

Lower yields and less reliable supply put pressure on availability and cost. A slow approval system can therefore become a food system problem, not simply a growing problem.

More than 80 per cent of the vegetables grown here are destined for the domestic market.

Our growers are not producing only for export shelves, they are supplying New Zealand kitchens and dinner tables. Growers’ ability to protect crops directly affects the resilience of our local food supply.

We all want New Zealanders eating more fruit and vegetables, yet that becomes harder when supply is disrupted or quality is reduced or prices rise.

Better access to modern crop protection tools cannot solve every affordability challenge, but it can help growers reduce avoidable losses and provide a steadier supply of nutritious food.

What’s great is that modern tools can be more targeted and environmentally precise than many older products.

As older options are phased out and resistance develops, growers need alternatives. A broader toolbox allows them to choose the most appropriate response, rotate products responsibly and use biological or innovative solutions where they are effective.

None of this means lowering New Zealand’s safety standards.

The point is to avoid repeating work that has already been completed to a high standard elsewhere, while retaining the country-specific checks needed to protect people, the environment and trade.

Requiring decision makers to take relevant international assessments into account is a sensible step towards a system that is both rigorous and timely.

New Zealand is a small market.

If our approval process is unusually slow, costly or duplicative, global manufacturers may decide that bringing a product here is not worthwhile.

Growers can then be left relying on a shrinking set of older tools while their overseas competitors gain access to newer options.

There is also a resilience argument. New pests and diseases do not wait for regulatory backlogs to clear.

When a biosecurity threat arrives, growers need the ability to respond quickly. Faster, proportionate pathways for proven products can help contain losses, protect regional jobs and keep food moving through the supply chain.

Horticulture already creates billions of dollars of value and over 40,000 jobs in our regions from less than 0.1 per cent of New Zealand’s land area.

Its contribution is measured not only in export receipts, but in the apples, kūmara, onions, leafy greens, asparagus and other produce New Zealanders rely on every week.

Supporting growers to produce more consistently strengthens regional economies and our national food security at the same time.

The detail of implementation will be critical.

Regulators must continue to put safety first, prioritise the applications that deliver the greatest value, and ensure changes translate into shorter, more predictable timeframes.

HortNZ welcomes the progress of the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill through Parliament.

Government agencies should now work closely with growers and others in the food system to ensure the reforms are effective in practice.

For growers, these changes mean a better chance of protecting a crop and earning a return after months or years of investment. For all New Zealanders, they mean a more resilient supply of healthy fruit and vegetables.