Organic Sector Tops $1.18 Billion – Growth Slowed By Policy Gaps Despite Strong Global Demand
Organics is delivering strong returns and long-term market relevance, said OANZ Chief Executive Tiffany Tompkins. But the sector is still working with one hand tied behind its back.
WELLINGTON, NZ – New data released today in the 2025 Organic Market Report shows New Zealand's organic sector has reached a record NZ$1.18 billion in value. This includes for the first time organic sales in the foodservice sector and reflects a 37% increase since 2020 (excluding foodservice), marking strong and sustained growth. Given the evidence of strong growth in global demand and the premium commanded by organic products, organics is New Zealand's highest-value and lowest-impact of primary production, delivering premium exports, healthier food, and stronger environmental outcomes. But the report also delivers a stark warning. New Zealand's organic sector lags behind the rest of the world due to outdated policies and lack of investment. The looming threat to the country's GE-free status also puts this success at risk.
Key growth highlights include:
The sector has grown from NZ$723 million in 2020 to NZ$1.18 billion in 2024
Exports totalled NZ$606.7 million, growing at nearly twice the rate of total primary sector exports.
Domestic consumption reached NZ$572 million, including NZ$190 million from the foodservice sector, now measured for the first time.
Certified organic land grew 4.3%, reaching 89,544 hectares
Leading export categories include fruit and vegetables (40.3%), dairy (35.3%), and wine (12.2%).
New Zealand's largest producers, including Fonterra and Zespri, are leading the way with premium organic milk and high-value organic kiwifruit, capitalising on consistent global demand for trusted, certified products. 'Organics is delivering strong returns and long-term market relevance,' said OANZ Chief Executive Tiffany Tompkins. 'But the sector is still working with one hand tied behind its back.' Far from being niche, organic production is now embedded in the strategies of some of our most successful agricultural exporters, with growing potential across other sectors including wine, meat and wool.
Despite strong performances, the report highlights critical structural barriers that continue to constrain the sector's full potential:
Only 0.6% of New Zealand farmland is certified organic, well behind global benchmarks, limiting the sector's ability to scale.
The National Organic Standard remains unfinished, more than two years after legislation was passed and despite over a decade of sector advocacy. Without it, producers face uncertainty and inconsistent recognition in international markets.
Organic equivalency agreements with key trading partners remain undone, delaying access to lucrative premium markets and adding compliance costs for exporters.
Certification and regulatory costs are rising, particularly impacting small and medium-sized producers and discouraging new entrants.
The Government's proposed Gene Technology Bill would allow the outdoor release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), posing an existential threat to organic producers, jeopardising New Zealand's GE-free brand and risking the loss of access to premium organic export markets that prohibit GE contamination.
'This is a sector that's doing what government strategies call for – lifting export value, protecting the environment, and boosting regional economies,' said Rob Simcic, Chair of OANZ. 'But we can't lead the world with a regulatory system stuck in the past. If we get this right, organics can become a core pillar of New Zealand's future'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
3 days ago
- Scoop
Gene Tech Bill Report Delayed. OANZ Welcomes Opportunity For Greater Scrutiny.
Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) has welcomed news from Parliament this week that the Health Select Committee has extended its reporting deadline on the controversial Gene Technology Bill from 31 July to 22 August. While no official explanation for the delay has been given, OANZ views the extension as a positive sign that the widespread concerns raised by farmers, exporters, scientists, and consumers are being taken seriously. 'This extension reflects that the issues at stake are complex, contested, and critical to New Zealand's food future,' said OANZ Chief Executive Tiffany Tompkins. 'We welcome the opportunity for greater scrutiny and urge all parties to prioritise strong protections for environmental and human health, as well as economic well-being. OANZ is in Wellington this week for the sixth time in 12 months, continuing high-level meetings with MPs from across the political spectrum and key government departments. The focus is on the rising concern over the erosion of Aotearoa's food system, including the Gene Technology Bill and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Proposal P1055, which would allow gene-edited foods to bypass safety checks and be sold without labelling or traceability. 'Together, the Gene Tech Bill and FSANZ's deregulation proposal risk undermining not just the organic sector, but the wider food and farming system, including our export reputation and the public's right to choose GE-free food,' said Tompkins. 'It also sends the wrong message to global markets, which increasingly demand full traceability and integrity from a country that prides itself on claims its clean, green and '100% Pure'. OANZ has led a national campaign alongside farmers, scientists, Māori leaders and concerned consumers, calling for the Bill to be slowed down, properly scrutinised, and reshaped to reflect the values New Zealand's food sector is globally known for. While the reporting delay offers a vital window for further consideration, OANZ remains vigilant. The organisation is calling on the government to ensure any final legislation protects: The right to farm GE-free Consumer choice and transparent labelling New Zealand's global reputation and market access 'This is a defining moment,' said Tompkins. 'We will continue to advocate on behalf of the sector, and for New Zealanders who deserve a safe and trusted food system that prioritises public health and environmental well-being.''
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
The world wants our excellent butter
One of our favourite butter brands recently took home a prestigious award from the International Cheese and Dairy show, the oldest and largest such show in England. According to the judges, compared with other competing countries, our butter is creamy, velvet and rich, without being greasy. It carries flavour and can soak up all the spices, aromatics, and seasoning in our cooking. It is more yellow and has a higher fat content than the pale, grain-fed American butter — consequently, along with the judges and countless top chefs, they just can't get enough of it. Butter is one of the purest foods in the world, and we make lots of it. New Zealand is the largest exporter of butter, and last year we exported 525,000 tonnes which is a third of the global market and worth $2.54 billion, making it our second-largest export earner. China is our biggest buyer, purchasing $786 million worth in 2024. Chinese people have some trust issues with their dairy products, and New Zealand is the most trusted and the butter considered to be of high quality. Other large importers of butter are the US, Australia and the Philippines, but it's almost unbelievable that we import about $3.69m worth each year, mainly from Denmark, India, Australia, France and Fiji. The dairy export industry started from humble beginnings, with a few barrels of salted butter manufactured at the Edendale Dairy Co shipped to England on board SS Dunedin in 1882 alongside its cargo of frozen mutton. Today the industry employs 55,000 people, there are seven different brands of butter and New Zealanders on the global scale are the highest consumers of the product. Hogging various media headlines at the moment is the price, as it is at an all-time high, and some seem to be trying to give Fonterra a guilt complex as if it sets the price and is responsible — but it is the global auction that sets the price. Fonterra's chief financial officer Andrew Murray stated our butter costs a lot less than you pay in Europe. Is there an irony in all this? Farmers have been improving their environmental image, animal welfare, our clean and green brand and, of course, animals are grass-fed, with the long-term view that premier products attract high-spending customers which in turn help not only the farmer but the country — but we could struggle to afford what we produce. Butter is 49% higher than a year ago and could it be beef and lamb next, which is 50% higher than five years ago. However, what goes up usually comes down.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Millworkers' reunion a celebration of friends
Twenty-five years after more than 150 jobs were lost at the closing of the Mataura paper mill, two retired boilermen are holding a reunion to reconnect. Ex-boilermen Ray Hannah and Graham "Noddy" Harris are hosting a reunion not to focus on the loss of industry, but on the strong friendships made along the way. "It's just a chance for people that haven't seen each other for a while to get together to have a chat and catch up," Mr Hannah said. "Because you made some pretty invaluable friendships through that workplace." Mr Hannah started working at the Carter Holt Harvey Mill in 1979, when he was 21, and Mr Harris came on board four years later. Both were with the mill up until it closed on August 18, 2000. With two machines running, the mill produced copy paper and wallpaper backing. It was also known for its specialty Mataura Falls bond paper. "We were renowned for our Mataura Falls pulp, one of the best papers that you could get," Mr Harris said. The copy paper used pulp from overseas. The cost of importing it and then exporting the finished product from the bottom of the country was too high, he said. The cost of import-export, plus globalisation, shut down the mill. "The Asian market killed it basically," he said. Mr Hannah said he was in denial about the closure at the time and when told they were having a final meeting, he just walked by thinking it was a joke. The wages at the mill were so high, no-one ever wanted to leave, Mr Harris said. When it shut down, he remembered people were worried about where their next job would come from, with over 150 people looking all at once. Everything worked out in the end and Mr Harris went straight down the road to work for Fonterra, he said. "Everybody found work, that wanted work," he said. Mr Harris also remembered the 1984 flood, that affected the river-side mill, as well as a fire in 1987, that was reported at the time as destroying $2 million of pulp. After the '87 fire The Ensign reported police in Gore believed it had been deliberately lit. The reunited workers will hopefully be reminiscing the good times, more than the bad, Mr Hannah said. "It's more about rekindling friendships and stuff like that, just reconnecting." The Carter Holt Harvey mill reunion will be an afternoon tea held at the Gore RSA on August 23, at 1.30pm, with light snacks and speakers, including Jeff Rankin, manager of the mill for some years. Cover charge is $10 a head.
