The whole, often fraught, often confused, issue of ‘sustainability’ in agriculture has thepotential to foot trip New Zealand if we’re not careful.
A recent
This well-written, thoughtful report highlights the danger of our country being accused of‘greenwash’, where our clean, green image is nothing more than words and puffery, with verylittle to actually support the 100% Pure label.
Substantive action to support our image must be taken to leverage NZ’s global brand the reportsays. That said, quite what the global brand actually is, is debatable.
One of the main challenges NZ primary products suppliers face is that the sustainabilityrequirements of each retail chain is different and not always consistent.
This is because the requirements have been driven by the marketing positions of the retail chain,rather than being based on best practice science and research.
The report suggests that regulation and compliance will play a key role in aiding theagribusiness sector in adopting a sustainable supply chain approach. Though there’s a danger oftoo much ‘red tape’ inhibiting growth and innovation in the sector, the key will be that theappropriate policy, whether regulatory or voluntary, is used.
Given that New Zealand’s current regulatory and compliance framework is similar to Australiaand Britain’s, noteworthy considerations include:
•A ‘first-in-first-served’ system for water use currently provided under the RMA needschanging. Similar to the Land and Water Forum 2010 recommendations, the minimisation of NZ’s waterfootprint should be achieved
•Emissions reporting and trading schemes are not new, andagribusiness emissions need to be addressed
•There is a global trend for a whole life cycleapproach. By adopting a ‘cradle-to-grave’ and ‘product stewardship’ concept, the sector willautomatically be taking a vital step towards developing a sustainable supply chain approach
•Product traceability is already occurring in the agribusiness supply chain, and it isquestionable whether it needs to be legislated in New Zealand. Instead, this may be a case whereglobal consumer demands and trends remove the need to develop more ‘red tape’
KPMG is to produce a second report focusing on the practicalities of implementing a sustainablesupply chain approach. Having addressed a complex question, the company’s answers will beextremely interesting.