November 2023
Important information required by Ministry for the Environment (MfE)
Tomato growers throughout New Zealand are all eligible to claim industrial allocation, whether you grow all year or only for part of the year, if you use recycled oil, wood pellets, coal or gas or no heating. There was an amendment to the Industrial Allocation Act earlier this year and as a result, MfE require ALL fresh tomato growers to provide information on certain aspects of their businesses. This COULD impact the free allocation currently given to fresh tomato growers – this happened to cucumber growers who were requested to send in information during a covid lockdown. TomatoesNZ has informed MfE that this is the worst time of year to be collecting data from growers due to it being such a busy time of year in the greenhouse. Unfortunately we have no ability to change the timing. The request for information came directly from the Ministry for the Environment on Friday 13th October. This is not a scam!
The email subject was ‘NZ Emissions Trading Scheme Industrial Allocation – Data Collection’. Please make sure that you complete this information before the due date of 15th December, for the benefit of the whole industry. The info required is 5 years’ worth of data on production (quantity), revenue, and emissions. Please make sure that your emissions take into consideration ALL gas, electricity, coal, recycled oil, diesel that you have used in your operations. Failure to provide the data could mean that the Ministry for the Environment decides that tomato growing isn’t an energy intensive activity and will advise the Minister to drastically reduce the free allocation on 60% further. What TomatoesNZ would like is to show the Minister that energy use is very much required to ensure a continual plentiful supply of fresh tomatoes available to the consumer and that in fact the allocation should be increased to 95%.
If you haven’t already signed up to industrial allocation, now is a great time to start this process. Please see further info here on the signing up process in both English and Korean: https://www.tomatoesnz.co.nz/hot-topics/industrial-allocation-and-how-to-register/
Sign up by 31st December to receive an allocation for this year’s production.
Energy and reducing demand
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) have produced a series of short emails designed to give growers bite sized pieces of information about things you can do to reduce your energy demand. These emails will be short and regular but for a limited period of time with the focus specifically on growing in greenhouses. Sign up to these emails here: https://www.eeca.govt.nz/co-funding/sector-decarbonisation/sign-up/
Earlier this year, EECA funded a video by TNZ board member Albert Shih on the benefits of installing thermal screens so that other growers could benefit from his experiences. If you have been wondering about installing screens, check out what Albert has to say here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N4ueYJ8UGk
Summer Tomato Promotions
The board has engaged charitable trust ‘5+ A Day’ in a marketing campaign over the coming months. This allows TomatoesNZ to leverage off the already huge following and known branding that 5+ A Day has. Look out for a tomato advert being aired on TV3 throughout November, promoting the benefits of eating fresh tomatoes. Tomatoes will also feature in recipes championed by #GreenKai_. If you have your own social media channels, you could follow both Green Kai and 5+ A Day and share their tomato material.
https://www.facebook.com/5adaynz/
https://www.instagram.com/5adaynz/
https://www.instagram.com/greenkai_/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081115102732
The Commerce commission and the Grocery Code of Conduct
The Commerce Commission (Com Com) is an independent regulator whose primary concern is keeping a check on competition and fair trading in many industries, include retail, for the benefit of both consumers and suppliers. In 2022, they reported that New Zealanders were paying what appeared to be inflated prices for their groceries compared to other countries and that the current duopoly of Foodstuffs and Woolworths controlling around 80% of the market, was probably the root cause of this. This led to the government bringing in a mandatory Grocery Code of Conduct effective from 28th September, which bans supermarkets from blocking their competitors entering the retail market. Other areas covered by the code are covered in the broad statement: ‘Retailers have to operate in good faith’ but this covers many areas including; ensuring the fair treatment of suppliers for example turning away fresh produce claiming it didn’t meet the required quality standards but too late for the supplier to sell the produce elsewhere; using ‘plain English’ in supplier contracts, paying suppliers on time and no retrospective changes to contracts. There is a good summary of the code here: https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/329710/Commerce-Commission-Grocery-supply-code-factsheet-28-September-2023.pdf or for the full version, click here: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2023/0220/latest/LMS881111.html
Retailers have until 28th March 2024 to make such supplier agreements comply with the new code. If, either as a grower or as a consumer, you believe that any aspect of the code has been breached, you can report this to Com Com anonymously by phoning 0800 943 600. Their advisors will tell you how to make a written report so that it isn’t subject to requests under the Official Information Act and will therefore remain anonymous in the public domain.
Com com have said they will hold webinars to help growers with fair supply contracts so keep an eye out on the HortNZ weekly emails for when these will be.
Dam regulations
If you have a body of water on your property that measures 4 metres (or more) and holds 20,000 cubic metres volume of water (or more), the regulations around the operations and maintenance of these have changed. The new measures will be enforced from 13th May 2024 so you need to be aware of the changes to make sure that you comply.
The new regulations are available on the MBIE website here: https://www.building.govt.nz/managing-buildings/dam-safety/resources/
At the same link there are forms which you might need to complete for your local council. These forms have also been updated to reflect the removal of the need to provide info on flooding and earthquake performance. For further questions about the changes please contact building@mbie.govt.nz