Photo: Horticulture NZ
Food producers are being forced out of business as prime growing land is sold off for subdivisions and lifestyle blocks. Horticulture New Zealand is welcoming the Environment Aotearoa 2019 report which says development of prime growing land for housing can force growers onto less productive ground, or out of business, and is pushing for a national policy statement to protect them. It says an average of nearly 6 thousand new lifestyle blocks a year for the past twenty years are encroaching on our most productive or "versatile" land. Horticulture New Zealand's Natural Resources and Environment Manager Michelle Sands speaks to Kathryn Ryan, along with Pukekohe grower Bharat Bhana.
