May 2022 Update - Organic Sector Strategy Action Groups

2022-2025 ORGANIC SECTOR ACTION GROUPS

Each month OANZ volunteers meet to discuss and drive forward the 2022—2025 Organic Sector Strategy and the priority sector-wide projects:

  • Establish an organic farmer extension programme

  • Increase consumer recognition of organic as an effective environmental and nutritional solution

  • Create an organic ecosystem database

  • Build partnerships and collaborations between the organic sector and other agricultural industries

  • Support the development and implementation of the Organic Products Bill, standards and regulations

We'll keep you informed of essential information, progress, timelines, etc. via this blog. Anyone from the sector can join a group at any time, if you have a passion for organics and skills you'd like to share we invite you to learn more by emailing tiffany@oanz.org or a specific project below resonates.

Read the full Organic Sector Strategy HERE and get the latest on the priority projects below.

Project: Establish an Organic Farmer Extension Programme

Purpose: Create a specific organic programme that focuses on solutions for organic agriculture, with the objective to improve the mental health of organic farmers who have felt marginalised; Assist current and potential organic farmers in increasing their effectiveness and knowledge of organics; Help move all farmers away from synthetic nitrogen, harmful pesticides and herbicides and move towards practices that better work with nature and sequester more carbon.

Update: The group met on April 29th to review and reflect on activity to date and make a draft plan for the extension programme, see update below:

    • Farmers are educated and able to communicate the benefits of organic production, enticing a new generation of farmers

    • Increased knowledge transfer by farm advisors and farmers

    • Regenerative agriculture and organics are more aligned and collaborative

    • Practical mentoring, discussion groups and organic ambassadors

    • Pathways created to grow the next generations of Māori organic producers and farmers

    • Implementation and uptake of Hua Parakore is supported

    • Māori use of mātauranga Māori to support the distinctiveness of Māori participation in organics

    • Increased organic production supply to meet global demand

    • Confirm Participation: Identify those organisations and groups that want to collaborate. Clarify their desired roles and relationship in an Extension programme

    • Identify Extension Programme funding opportunities: Identify potential extension programme funding options and their investment conditions. Clarify the resource needs for the development of extension programme and a funding application. Obtain the resources/commitment for facilitating the above

    • Design the Extension programme and prepare the funding application: Obtain feedback from the Group to identify generic extension as well as sector specific extension needs. Collaboratively design the extension programme. Facilitate wider sector consultation on draft extension programme plan. Develop funding proposal

    • Programme Implementation

    • Identify members who represent organic groups/organisations and organisations and groups that want to collaborate

    • Clarify desired roles and relationship in an Extension programme

  • Chair - Jon Manhire (The AgriBusiness Group)

    Secretary - Christina Robinson (Zespri- Global Extension Lead Sustainability)

Project: Increase Consumer Recognition of Organic as an Effective Environmental and Nutritional Solution

Purpose: Identify the sector's "WHY". Determine how best to communicate organics to consumers, farmers and the government.

Update: This group is meeting fortnightly via zoom. This group has formulated desired outcomes and a draft plan. The next meeting will focus on understanding the current evidence for organics in NZ.

    • Increased demand for New Zealand organic products

    • More New Zealand based research and science supporting organic production, ecology and land management

    • Health and environmental benefits of organic agriculture are communicated to consumers, farmers and government

    • Key influencers and spokespeople promote New Zealand’s organic sector across media platforms

    • Increased support for the development of the organic category

    • An organic narrative including mātauranga Māori principles, unique to Aotearoa New Zealand is created for use by producers, brand owners and exporters domestically and in international markets

    • Existing organic campaigns, especially Organic Week, have the opportunity to be built upon

    • New collaborations and structures are established with mainstream media

  • RESEARCH

    • Understanding the current evidence

    • Providing new evidence

    • Key drivers and barriers

    • Understanding sustainability & health benefits


      MĀORI PARTNERSHIP

    • Understanding and integrating the 7 pillars

    • NZ own-able stories

      TARGET AUDIENCE

    • Determining the audience

    • Segmentation and positioning

    • Global or domestic?

    FUNDING

    • Types of funding required and availability

    • Politics behind the accessibility

    COMMUNICATION

    • What is organic?

    • Key messaging

    • Per segment, if required

    • Draw upon research and science

  • The next meeting will focus on:

    • Understanding the current evidence

    • Understanding sustainability & health benefits

    • Key drivers and barriers

    • Existing Research and gaps

  • Chair - Robyn Vickery (BioGro, Marketing & Communications Manager)

    Secretary - Marion Wood (Commonsense Organics & Soil and Health Association)

Project: Create an Organic Ecosystem Database

Purpose: Create a national database for organic resources. The objective is to allow for better sharing of resources across the sector and reduce knowledge and technical barriers to entry.

Update: A Chair has been appointed to the group recently. Malkiat Singh is an IT professional and organic farmer who will work with the group to develop this action further.

    • A national database of all organic resources available to all producers in an easy searchable format such as a website or app

    • Allow for better sharing of resources across the sector

    • Knowledge and technical based barriers to entry are reduced

  • Set up an online collaboration board: Create a collaboration board which can show the real time status update, our progress, next steps etc. This board will help us plan and visualise in real time - what will be achieved by when, based on the team velocity of getting things done.

    Defining user personas and value roadmap: We want to set up a session around the objectives for each persona whom we recognise as our customer and stage out the delivery plan to ensure that our group is able to deliver value fast and incremental value which our personas can start utilising early on.

    Identification of skills matrix: We want to identify the skills we need for successful execution of the project.

    Begin implementation and value delivery early on: There may be options for us to create an interim solution which we could start using for the sake of early value delivery to our customers. Once we have funding, we could review the technical backend infrastructure we need for the long run. We will plan it in a manner that anything we do now for the prototype is not wasted and can be reused in some ways.

  • Group to agree on timelines of the project, agree on the full scope of the project, and develop a detailed project plan.

  • Chair - Malkiat Singh

Project: Organic Products Bill, Regs and Standards

Purpose: With work on the standard and regulations underway, the sector must communicate best practices and maintain that the new regime is fit-for-purpose.

Update: The first meeting established the group's purpose - to act at a high level, ensure that work on the regulations and the standard progresses, and feed into the OANZ Technical Committee. This group creates the opportunity for the sector to become engaged in developing the standards (priority) and the regulations (secondary).

    • A technical Committee and Advisory Council are established

    • Standards and regulations support the sector

    • The regime does not add cost to producers, processors or retailers

    • International trade agreements with global certification recognition are established

    • Increased clarity and trust around the use of ‘organic’

    • The Official Organic Assurance Programme has increased data available on markets

    • The Hua Parakore system operates in partnership with the OPB

  • To follow

  • OANZ is working with a team led by Shona Scott at MPI to determine the best way to move forward with the Advisory Council and Working Groups that are being formed to work on the national organic standard. This group, OANZ members and parts of the sector have discussed ways to improve its relationship with MPI to ensure a more collaborative approach.

  • Chair - Derek Broadmore

    Secretary - Claire Bleakley

Project: Build Ag Industry Partnerships and Collaborations

Purpose: Build upon and develop multi-level partnerships with farmer levy organisations.

Update: This group has met once since the kick-off meeting in February. The group identified a lack of resources that have historically made it difficult to maintain influence and opportunities for cooperation. The first priority is stakeholder analysis and OANZ should join He Waka Eka Noa. The group is in need of a new chairperson to lead. This group will eventually work more closely with the Farmer Extension Project team.

Next Steps: Find a new group Chair to carry work forward and continue working through the group’s process: Awareness, Baseline Assessment, Creative Solutions, and Planning.

OANZ