2.3.2 Limiting Factors to the Development of the Organic Industry
2.3.2.1 Constraints to Industry Growth
Constraints to the growth in the organic industry primarily focused on production related issues such as technical constraints which were then seen to impact on the financial viability of organic production.
Comments included:
Production
- "Organics has a high cost of production often due to more costly technical solutions to pest, disease and weed management problems."
- "Grower perceptions of higher costs, financial risks and complexity of organic production. These are often perceived problems as much as a genuine technical problem."
- "Technical production problems, i.e. disease, pest, weed management, especially for export market requirements, i.e. fresh products."
- "Technical problems such as pest control without the use of agrichemicals."
- "Like conventional farming, organic farming is constrained by the effects of vertebrate and invertebrate pests and weeds. These become limiting on organic farms where conventional control measures are not available."
- "On-farm profitability, grower acceptance, achieving premium prices, producing quality, consumer acceptance of lower quality."
- "Lack of research data on 'real' farm system performance."
- "Inadequate or perceived inadequate financial returns from organic products needed to offset the lower level of performance."
- "Low level of scientific justification for methods used by organic farmers leads to risk in the eyes of potential producers."
- "Lack of information and difficulty of assessing information on organic production."
- "Over emphasis of the 'risks' during conversion."
Sector Specific
- "The presence of Tb in New Zealand poses a threat to market access and the control of its primary carrier, the possum, is a high priority."
- "Achieving higher levels of animal performance, especially regarding internal and external parasites in one stock."
Market
- "Markets for a full range of organic products."
- "Market information, economic data, the definition of organics, farmer-grower attitudes."
- "Access to market intelligence and product packing and distribution systems."
Infrastructure
- "Serious shortfall in staff and resources for organic research in fruit crops. While many R & D projects will benefit all growers including organic growers, there are relatively limited resources currently committed to developing organic fruit production systems."
- "Integrated industry infrastructure from grower support through to consumer education."
- "Poor or non-existent production conversion support from the government."
- "Industry attitudes to economies of scale, e.g. large factory processors cannot handle small runs of organic products, on-farm economics and regulations."
Contact for Enquiries
Kay Brown
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0695
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0746
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