Market gardeners in rural South Auckland say the growing loss of land in the area to developers is impacting on where they can grow crops, as urban sprawl continues to eat up the city's most productive land.
Pukekohe market gardener Bharat Jivan's family has been growing vegetables in Pukekohe for the past 60 years, but he says the city's insatiable appetite for more greenfield land is putting increasing pressure on growers like himself. Photo: STUFF / Stephen Forbes
And they say it will inevitably hit consumers in the pocket when they buy their vegetables.
South Auckland's horticulture industry is centred on the Pukekohe Hub, 4359 hectares of some of New Zealand's most fertile and productive land.
According to Auckland Council's Climate Action Framework, released in 2019, the area's volcanic soils generate $327 million a year in produce, which is the equivalent of 26 percent of New Zealand's total vegetable production.
Market gardener Bharat Jivan's family has been growing vegetables in Pukekohe for the past 60 years.
But he said the city's insatiable appetite for more greenfield land was putting increasing pressure on growers.
"Land is now very hard to come by," Jivan said. "Especially if you are looking to expand your operations."
And he said there were now more and more developers willing to pay top dollar for it.
"We just can't compete," Jivan said. "So we need to ensure we protect these areas for the nation's food security."
He said the country relied on Pukekohe's vegetables, particularly from October to December, because they could plant new season crops before other regions in the country south of the city.
An Environment Court decision released last year said the irreversible, cumulative loss of Auckland's prime horticultural land was accelerating. Photo: LDR / Stephen Forbes
But Jivan said if the area lost any more of its productive capacity, vegetable prices could be 30-40 percent higher during those critical months.
Bhana Family Farms director Amrut Bhana shared his concerns.
He said 18 months ago the company lost its lease on an eight hectare block of prime growing land in Pukekohe's Foy Rd so it could be turned into a school.
"Sooner or later something has to give. If we've got less land to grow on, it's going to lead to people having to pay more for their vegetables," Bhana said.
Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association president Kylie Faulkner said there had been an increasing amount of development in Auckland's rural south in recent years and it was putting pressure on the industry.
"The urban sprawl is getting closer and closer," she said. "But we've got to find the right balance between having areas where we can produce food at a reasonable price and having enough housing for people to live in."
A bird's eye view of some of the Pukekohe Hub's prime land which is under pressure from urban sprawl. Photo: Stuff / Chris McKeen
An Environment Court decision released last year said the irreversible, cumulative loss of Auckland's prime horticultural land was accelerating. It said urban sprawl was set to eat up to 31,270 hectares of Auckland's most productive land over the next 35 years.
The government is working on new standards as part of its National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) to help safeguard such land and prevent it being lost to development.
Auckland Council planning committee chairman Chris Darby said the changes were needed now more than ever in areas like Pukekohe.
"We're looking for certainty from the central Government on this," he said. "We've got grave concerns about the amount of highly productive, food growing land that is being lost to housing."
In a statement, Minister of Environment David Parker said the new guidelines were expected to be announced in July or August.
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