3. Method
Industry workshops were held with participants in the kiwifruit and apple industries. For kiwifruit, this occurred in the BOP which produces over 80 percent of all New Zealand kiwifruit and most of the organic kiwifruit. For apples, workshops were held in the Hawkes Bay and also in Nelson/Marlborough, the two main apple growing areas. Workshop participants included organic growers (both well established and recently converted to organic growing), organic industry leaders, conventional growers, sector representatives, MAF Policy representatives and consultant facilitators. For kiwifruit, the workshop did not include conventional growers. This was because recent industry issues between organic and conventional kiwifruit payment pools have created controversy, which was likely to stifle discussion at a mixed workshop. However, it did include a producer who managed both conventional and organic blocks.
The workshop participants identified and prioritised constraints to organic production for themselves and their sector, and attempted to quantify these constraints.
In addition, discussions were held with individuals unable to attend the workshops or with an interest in one particular aspect of the issues and analysis.
The workshops focused on two objectives. The primary objective was to get the group to identify, prioritise and quantify the risks and costs relating to on-orchard aspects of organic production. The secondary objective was to investigate changes relating to widespread adoption of organic production systems such as changes in resource requirements and potential changes in attributes such as environmental conditions.
The output of workshops was a summary of constraints, prioritised and quantified where possible, and a list of the changes in resource requirements.
Financial analysis used the MAF Monitoring BOP kiwifruit model and Hawkes Bay pipfruit model (MAF, 2002b) as a basis for analysis. A draft of the financial implications of conversion to organic production was presented at the workshop for participants' response.
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
Contact this person
