Tomatoes New Zealand has identified four key issues for the tomato growing industry moving forward into 2024: decarbonisation, rising cost of production, regulation, and biosecurity.
The demand and need for decarbonisation is a concern primarily due to the lack of sufficient financial support for growers to implement decarbonising methods. This is coupled with the rising cost of all inputs involved with production, including energy, fertiliser, and the cost of employment, as minimum wages have continued to increase.
Another significant issue is the implementation of further regulation, which is often nonsensical, as growers adhere to an existing, robust set of regulations regarding compliance in the form of GAP. Regulations that come in addition to existing regulations are often from central government, regional, and local councils. They are typically time-consuming and tone-deaf, lacking alignment with the growers, which it impacts.
Finally, biosecurity is a constant threat as the ramifications of an unwanted organism affecting produce have local and international effects.
Tomatoes New Zealand is primarily funded through levies paid by commercial tomato growers. Therefore, the projects it fosters aim to address some of the primary issues for the growers. Tomatoes New Zealand has a three-year trial into white fly psyllid (Tomato potato psyllid) to the level of beneficial insects required to keep control of these pests.
“We also organise workshops to highlight how growers can reduce their energy demands and around alternatives to fossil fuels,” said Dinah Cohen, business manager at Tomatoes New Zealand.
Tomatoes New Zealand advocates to policy analysts on behalf of growers and works closely with Biosecurity New Zealand to be prepared for when new pathogens enter New Zealand.
Growers need to be adaptable as the horticulture industry has many moving parts. Given that tomatoes are mostly grown through greenhouses in New Zealand, where the climate can be controlled, the industry is less affected by extreme weather events, which other produce growers may be susceptible to.
However, Tomatoes New Zealand iterated that they hoped whichever government would be in office following the election would be open to working with the organisation for the benefit of all New Zealanders to ensure food security, particularly concerning fresh produce grown in New Zealand rather than the reliance of import for produce which can be grown domestically.
Tomato growers across the country are developing alternative ways of heating a greenhouse to avoid using fossil fuels, such as converting coal boilers to using wood pellets and exploring geothermal in areas outside of Taupo. These alternative energy sources require input and support from the government and local councils through rules that foster innovation rather than impede the building of new greenhouses in areas near geothermal and wood pellet distribution centres.
Vertical farming solutions for tomatoes are limited to lab-based trials in Australia. While this solution is used for a limited number of other produce items, such as microgreens and strawberries, it has yet to touch the tomato-growing industry in New Zealand.
“I’m not aware of any commercial operations for tomatoes, but never say never.”
Cohen emphasised the importance of New Zealand growers, sharing that most growers have little input into the price of their produce on supermarket shelves. During some years and harvests, the prices on supermarket shelves have not been able to cover the cost of production that growers have input to have their produce available to consumers.
“Whether it’s the husband and wife operation growing under a few hundred metres squared of plastic or a multi-hectare operation with hundreds of employees, they all help to ensure that there is fresh produce for Kiwis to buy.”
She added that growers were adaptable, knowledgeable and resilient, and Cohen hasn’t visited a grower yet where she hadn’t been impressed by their greenhouses and what they were doing.
Read more about the future for growers through the latest issue below.
