Policy tangle a threat to pig farming in New Zealand

Published May 13, 2024

Tridge summary

The New Zealand pork industry is expressing concern over a new government policy, the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), which they believe could threaten the future of pig farming. The policy is designed to protect productive land from urbanization, but the pork industry fears it will be misinterpreted to exclude pig farming. The policy's shift from protecting land for primary production to land-based primary production has led to concerns that indoor primary production activities like pig farms will be considered inappropriate for highly productive land. This could potentially prevent the establishment of new pig farms or the expansion of existing ones, as well as hinder farmers from constructing new buildings to meet welfare rules. The pork industry is urging the government to clarify the policy to ensure it does not unintentionally restrict pig farming while still protecting productive land for primary production.
Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The New Zealand pork sector fears misinterpreted policy wording is threatening the future viability of pig farming. The pork industry has expressed concern that the government’s National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) will prevent pig farming on productive land. The directive on the policy was supposed to protect productive land from encroaching urbanisation such as housing. Consultation on the proposed NPS-HPL stated the intention to protect highly productive land for primary production purposes. This was to avoid the loss of HPL to two key risks – uncoordinated urban expansion and rural land fragmentation associated with rural lifestyle living, NZ Pork chief executive Brent Kleiss said. NZ Pork supports this, Kleiss said, but the published version of the statement changed that wording to “land-based primary production”. NZ Pork, which represents NZ’s commercial pig farmers, is concerned that the wording of the policy is now being interpreted to exclude pig ...

Would you like more in-depth insights?

Gain access to detailed market analysis tailored to your business needs.
By clicking “Accept Cookies,” I agree to provide cookies for statistical and personalized preference purposes. To learn more about our cookies, please read our Privacy Policy.