MAF History

The current Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is a descendent of the old Department of Agriculture which was founded back in 1892 from the amalgamation of the Stock and Agriculture Branches of the Department of Crown Lands. Its job back then was to provide farmers with expert scientific advice to improve both the quality and quantity of their production.

Since then, the Ministry has undergone a series of major restructurings, which have also changed its role and key functions. The core Ministry of Agriculture (i.e. MAF Policy, MAF Regulatory Authority, Corporate Group and Corporate Affairs) became primarily a policy and regulatory organisation. These functions were separated from service delivery, which is carried out by MAF Quality Management (MQM). On 1 July 1995, MQM was internally separated from the rest of MAF, pending a review of its functions. Farm advice services were taken over by Agriculture New Zealand, initially a State Owned Enterprise, but late privatised.

Another change which occurred on 1 July 1995 was the giving over of all responsibilities for fisheries, which since 1972 had been the work of the old Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, to a new Ministry of Fisheries. However, Cabinet decided that, despite the loss of "Fisheries" the newly created Ministry of Agriculture should continue to be known by the acronym "MAF", and should still use the same logo, because of the high recognition and regard for the name and logo amongst our overseas trading partners.

On 1 March 1998, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Forestry merged to become the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

On 1 November 1998, MAF Quality Management was replaced by two SOEs;  Asure New Zealand Ltd and AgriQuality New Zealand.  The purpose of establishing the SOEs was to separate the service delivery arm from the core Government tasks of policy advice and regulatory standards, and to improve the efficiency and performance of both businesses to ensure their viability. The move to establish the SOEs follows three strategic reviews (1996, 1997 and 1998) of the Crown’s involvement in MAF Quality Management. The reviews concluded that operations within MQM were capable of achieving commercial viability.

July 1999 saw the Regulatory Authority divided into MAF Food Assurance Authority and MAF Biosecurity Authority.

MAF Restructuring 1987 to Present

  • 1987 - amalgamation of 10 functional Divisions into 4 Business Groups (MAF Technology, MAF Quality Management, MAF Fisheries and MAF Corporate Services) in response to requirements from Government to become more businesslike and generate third party revenue;
  • 1990 - separation of MAF Policy (Agriculture and Fisheries) from service delivery functions in the other Business Groups;
  • 1992 - science restructuring - MAF Tech split among CRIs. Agriculture New Zealand (farm consultants) retained but moved over time to full cost recovery;
  • 1992 - Policy restructuring I - creation of Regulatory Authority to focus on implementation of policy;
  • 1994 - Policy restructuring II - separation of agricultural and fisheries policy;
  • 1995 - sale of Agriculture New Zealand to Wrightsons;
  • 1995 - creation of Ministry of Fisheries;
  • 1998 - merger of Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Forestry;
  • 1998 - Forestry Export Certification transferred to AgriQuality.
  • 1998 - MAF Quality Management split into Asure New Zealand Ltd and AgriQuality New Zealand Ltd (SOEs) - Verification Agency and Quarantine Service retained within MAF. The Animals and Plants Laboratories were retained as part of core MAF;
  • 1999 - sale of Forest Health to Forest Research;
  • 1999 - separation of Regulatory Authority into Biosecurity Authority and Food Assurance Authority.
  • 2002 - MAF Food Assurance Authority and parts of Ministry of Health combine to become the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, a semi-autonomous business within MAF
  • 2004 - MAF Biosecurity Authority becomes Biosecurity New Zealand.

MAF Timeline

See also:

from Aspects of New Zealand's experience in agricultural reform since 1984 (MAF Policy Technical paper 94/5)

and

The Development of Agricultural Advisory Services in New Zealand (MAF Policy Technical paper 97/8)

Contact for Enquiries

MAF Communications
Level 9
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington

Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0300
Contact this person