Tanczos Nandor: General Debate 
Tanczos Nandor: General Debate 
[Volume:640;Page:10480] 
NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) 
: 
 Today the Minister of Research Science and Technology announced $150 million to investigate sustainability and climate change and $311 million to boost primary sector research. The extraordinary thing is that he seems to see these two areas as distinct. Agriculture contributes around half of our greenhouse gas emissions from this country. Deforestation and the intensification and expansion of dairy farming are significant contributors to our looming Kyoto deficit. In addition water allocation and water quality are being impacted on. 
Many of our farmers are taking this challenge seriously and are looking at how to improve their practices and they are being encouraged to do so through initiatives such as the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord. But there is a fundamental contradiction between increasing intensification and expansion of dairying and farming in a way that has low environmental impact. It is a nettle that the Government riding on the back of a national boom driven by dairy profits is loath to grasp. How do we circle the square? Next month the National Organics Conference will be discussing just that. 
The potential of organic farming to boost farmers’ incomes to reduce environmental impact such as the nitrification of waterways and to improve producer and consumer health has not been well appreciated by this Government. For example research is beginning to demonstrate the importance of humus in soils in sequestering carbon. It may be that building healthy soils naturally through improving the organic content and thereby the soil structure soil microbiology nutrients water and nutrient-holding capacity is as important as planting trees in holding carbon. How many of the research dollars announced by the Minister today will be spent on organic farming? Not many if any. 
There is some Government support for organics—for example the funding of Organics Aotearoa New Zealand and the Organic Advisory Programme run through that. I acknowledge our erstwhile colleague Ken Shirley and his role as executive director of Organics Aotearoa New Zealand. I know that he is extremely appreciative of the fact that the only reason there is any Government support for Organics Aotearoa New Zealand at all is that the Green Party got it for it. But even with minimal support from the Government and a lack of commitment to organics from this Government organics is growing. I make the point that organic farming was not even mentioned in the Government’s sustainable agriculture discussion documents. That shows the lack of commitment from this Government. 
But even so organics is growing because it is being driven by truly innovative and creative people—people who are seeing the future and establishing the foundation for our nation to move into greater organic production. Between 1999 and 2005 the amount of New Zealand land that was either certified organic or under conversion increased by more than 400 percent. Organic exports are worth around $100 million a year the domestic market consumes around $60 million worth and another $40 million worth are imported into this country. 
 Organics Aotearoa New Zealand wants to boost New Zealand’s organic exports to $1 billion by 2013 and there is a broader vision in the New Zealand organic sector of New Zealand being 50 percent organic by 2020. Between 1996 and 1999 the premium for organic kiwifruit averaged 50 percent above the conventional price. In 1999 organic peas had a premium of 41 percent and organic sweetcorn a premium of 57 percent and today organic-certified apples are enjoying a 100 percent premium as is organic-certified lamb. So the profits are there to be made while reducing the environmental impacts. We do not need to intensify in the way we are doing to get the returns. The issue is not about increasing turnover; it is about increasing profit. 
Researchers from the University of Michigan found that in developed countries yields were almost equal on organic and conventional farms and then of course there is the price premium. In developing countries—and members should take note because this is interesting—food production could double or triple using organic methods according to the research by the University of Michigan. It is time the Government started getting serious about supporting organic agriculture and as part of its commitment to sustainability got behind the vision of New Zealand being 50 percent organic by 2020.