NZKGI has shared its Regulatory Priorities for New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers with all major political parties, which outline the key policy and regulatory challenges facing the kiwifruit industry and can be viewed here. We have also asked them the following question: How will your party ensure long-term access to land, water, labour, and agrichemicals needed to support the growth and success of New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry?
Responses received from political parties will be published in chronological order below as they are received.
The Opportunity Party
The Opportunity Party supports the Kiwifruit industry as a model for high-value, low impact agricultural diversification. We have a range of policies across our platform that will enable this industry to continue to grow, including:
Land and water. We are supportive of regulatory reform where there is clear evidence that farmers are overburdened or regulations prevent environmental restoration. For example, we agree that the RMA needs to be improved and support more streamlined consenting for on-farm water storage. In addition, we have proposed a Tax Reset policy that incentivises more productive use of prime agricultural land and the retiring of marginal land. On water, we support the reinstatement of Te Mana o te Wai as a governing principle for freshwater management in New Zealand and would explore the development of novel market-based approaches for nitrates and phosphate in specific catchments over developing new regulations. At our core, we believe well-designed markets – coupled with investment in new technology and grower-to-grower extension services – are more effective at achieving environmental outcomes than regulation.
Labour. Opportunity has no policy to alter the RSE Scheme, but is open to working with the kiwifruit industry on practical amendments that benefit employers and workers. Looking further ahead, our Breakthrough Economy policy includes a generational uplift in our research and development spending – with a focus on funding our regional polytechnics, agricultural scientists and technology incubator programmes properly. We have a clear vision for agritech and nature-positive farming models as high-value export markets of the future. We will also back small businesses, like orchards, to step-up their technology rollout through a 25% tax credit on new investments.
Agrichemicals. Opportunity is aware of the significant delays growers face in accessing newer, safer agrichemicals. We look forward to working with the sector to streamline this system for productivity and environmental gains.
Other policy of note. We encourage Kiwifruit growers to review our Abundant Energy policy. As high energy users with the capacity to electrify, we’ll support growers through a range of incentives and funding mechanisms to reduce their energy bills. In addition, our policy to empower the Commerce Commission with greater independence and tools is designed to ensure fair treatment and higher prices for growers across the retail chain.
Labour Party
Labour views long-term access to land, water, labour, and agrichemicals as incredibly important for the kiwifruit industry, among other sectors, to thrive while improving our environment.
Long-term access to land and the Resource Management Act
We are focused on practical, enduring policies that give farmers certainty to invest, grow and build resilient businesses for the next generation, and we are committed to not repeating the “repeal and replace cycle”.There’s plenty in the Government’s replacement Resource Management Act that we agree with.
We agree on the need for spatial planning and for generally one plan per region, but there are some things we would change. We’ll support a stronger national planning framework with clear environmental standards, and more strategic planning.
Labour recognises the importance of highly productive land. We have lost 35,000 hectares to urban and rural-residential development over the past 20 years, and National’s fast-track housing projects are speeding up the loss of productive farmland. We’ll restore the requirement to map and protect highly productive land so that it is better protected.
We’ll also ensure that environmental bottom lines cannot be overridden by development, and better protection for Māori.
Access to Water
Labour does believe that we can have both a productive sector and clean freshwater, and we’ll be working hard to achieve that.Labour
We support having multiple agricultural and horticultural education pathways and greater recognition of the role of the food and fibre sector. Katikati College’s agriculture programmes is an outstanding example of this – working with local orchards, nurseries and businesses to give students meaningful, real-world learning opportunities.Labour also has a strong record of supporting young people into apprenticeships and qualifications. Our expansion of Apprenticeship Boost will extend financial support for employers taking on apprentices in accredited programmes, including pathways into primary industries. It will also provide eligible apprentices with a $1,000 toolbox grant to help cover the costs of getting started, alongside a structured mentoring pilot delivered through Industry Skills Boards and training providers.
It is important that we get the settings right to ensure the support is there for our RSE workers.
Agrichemicals
We agree that the system around agricultural chemicals need an uplift. An average wait time of five to eight years for a product can leave our growers reliant on older products when newer and safer options exist, and it limits our productivity and export competitiveness.Labour broadly supports the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill.
National Party
Over the last three years, National has been fixing the basics and building the future, singing new trade deals, cutting red and green tape and ending Labour’s war on farmers and growers.
Under National, horticulture exports are up to $8.8 billion, expected to rise to $10 billion over by 2030. Sensible government policy has played its part, but this could not have been done without the hardworking growers who work day in day out to provide for their communities.
Under National’s Free Trade Agreement with India, kiwifruit has tariff free access to one of the largest economies in the world. This will result in around $125 million in savings for this industry. Kiwifruit also received tariff free access to the UAE signed by the National Government.
National also scrapped the RMA to get Kiwifruit growers back to doing what they do best – growing. Under the new planning system, kiwifruit growers will have more flexibility to use their land how they wish with fewer consents.
The new planning system also introduces practical rules for on-farm water storage with improved protection of drinking water sources. Importantly, we kept our promise to rebalance Te Mana o Te Wai so that consents no longer need to comply.
On workers, National made changes to modernise the RSE scheme: simpler, clearer to use, maintains protections for workers. We’ve raised the cap by 1,250, allowed flexibility to average 30 hours a week and added Timor Leste to the scheme.
On Agrichemicals, this term, The Government also passed new bills which will cut approval times for new crop protection products and modernise and streamline regulatory processes.
There is still more to do, but what is clear is that Kiwifruit growers cannot afford a Labour, Greens, TPM, TOP Government which will tax your orchard and remove Nationla’s investment boost. National backs our farmers and growers which is why we have committed to no new taxes. The choice couldn’t be clearer.
Green Party
Land:
Our policy would restore a standalone Ministry for the Environment. It would increase resources for the Environmental Protection Authority to identify risks to the environment and human health, and for compliance, monitoring and enforcement to ensure polluters are held accountable and ensure we have a healthy environment to support horticultural organisations.Water:
Our policy would implement strong, evidence-based national bottom lines for freshwater for both human health and ecosystem health to address pollution including lowering the nitrate limit for drinking water.Labour:
Our policy would strengthen worker bargaining power by changing employment law to default union membership. This means people automatically join a union when they start a new job, but can opt out later. It would also expand the right to strike, including for breaches of collective agreements and political and solidarity reasons. This would be alongside guaranteeing annual minimum wage increases that at least keep up with inflation and working towards matching the minimum wage to the living wage.Agrichemicals:
The Green Party are supportive of fair regulation of agrichemical use that protects the quality of our freshwater, with financial support for farming to transition to regenerative practice. Support would also cover research and development for agrichemicals that have a neutral impact on the natural environment.
Act Party
ACT’s approach is to ensure growers can access the land, water, labour, and tools they need by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers, providing certainty, and focusing rules on actual risks rather than process.
We have already demonstrated that approach in Government. ACT’s Andrew Hoggard has used his Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Associate Environment and Agriculture portfolios to make regulation more practical for primary producers. Freshwater farm plans have been redesigned to be simpler, cheaper, and more risk-based, with certification and auditing focused on higher-risk activities and unnecessary mapping and reporting requirements removed. The system also recognises existing industry assurance programmes rather than requiring growers to duplicate work.
On access to land and water, ACT has replaced the RMA with a system grounded in property rights, clear environmental standards, and greater certainty about what landowners can do with their property. ACT needs to have a strong role in the next Government to ensure practical national policy direction and standards under the new resource-management system, rather than vague or inconsistent rules that vary unnecessarily between councils. This will directly address many of the issues faced by kiwifruit growers around land-use flexibility, water storage, and inconsistent regional planning rules.
ACT also recognises that access to labour is fundamental to horticulture. In Government we have supported increasing access to RSE workers. ACT supports keeping employment settings flexible and making it easier for productive businesses to hire the people they need. We are open to changes that support a more streamlined and predictable RSE system, including reducing repetitive administration and giving employers and returning workers greater certainty.
Agrichemicals are an area where ACT has already delivered significant reform but there is still important work to finish. ACT established the Ministry for Regulation specifically to identify rules that impose unnecessary costs and hold back productivity. One of its first major reviews examined agricultural and horticultural products after growers raised concerns about the length and complexity of New Zealand’s approval processes. The Government accepted all 16 recommendations from that review. As Food Safety Minister, Andrew Hoggard worked alongside Regulation Minister David Seymour to progress changes that speed up approvals, make the system clearer and more transparent, and make better use of international evidence.
The Government has introduced changes to both the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms and Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines regimes to implement that review. The HSNO Amendment Bill would streamline approval pathways, enable greater use of assessments undertaken by trusted overseas regulators, and support more proportionate decision-making while retaining appropriate New Zealand health and environmental protections. ACT has pushed to get this legislation through Parliament, but other parties have not prioritised this work as highly as ACT. We will prioritise finishing the job in the next Parliament, including passing the HSNO changes, making the necessary regulations under the ACVM Act, and delivering the operational changes within New Zealand Food Safety.
The same philosophy applies across the board: protect property rights, ensure access to productive resources, maintain a dependable workforce, give growers timely access to modern technology and crop-protection tools, and regulate genuine risks without burying productive businesses in paperwork. The kiwifruit industry is one of New Zealand’s great export success stories, and ACT wants regulatory settings that allow it to keep investing, expanding, and competing internationally.
