Onions are New Zealand's leading export vegetable crop with 90 per cent of the entire crop sold overseas.

OPINION: If your favourite vegetable is the humble spud, you're not alone. New Zealanders have a love affair with potatoes.



Kiwis like them mashed with cream and a dollop of butter, roasted, or served cold in a salad with lashings of thick dressing and crispy bacon.



In 2016, New Zealanders consumed about 23 kilograms of potatoes each, with total production at 525,000 tonnes. It's the country's most highly-consumed vegetable.



Interestingly, two-thirds of New Zealand's potato production goes into processing.

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But New Zealand's ability to feed itself is under threat.

supplied Prime fruit and vegetable growing land is being squeezed by rapid growth in towns and cities and high demand for new housing.

There is a "perfect storm brewing for New Zealand's supply of healthy food", according to a new report from Horticulture New Zealand which was released last month.

Prime fruit and vegetable growing land is being squeezed by rapid growth in towns and cities and high demand for new housing.

Of the 5.5 per cent of land appropriate for vegetable production in New Zealand, roughly 1/10th has been subdivided for lifestyle blocks in the past 15 years, according to the report.

PETER MEECHAM/FAIRFAX NZ Urban encroachment on valuable food growing soils is threatening the sustainability of growers in the Pukekohe region, grower Bharat Jivan says.

That, coupled with emotional battles over water and more severe unseasonal weather events, has the potential to "put healthy food out of reach for some people".

It's a worrying trend.

As a farmer nothing frustrates me more than seeing fertile land growing broccoli or trees laden with juicy apples, replaced with footpaths and sprawling single-storey homes.

Horticulture New Zealand believes it's time to take stock of the situation.

Its report says there is "an assumption that New Zealand is a land of plenty and we will always have enough locally-grown food to feed our population, supplemented by imported food where there is demand. But things are changing, fast."

Food production is competing for water with all other users and it's "not elevated in status to ensure that domestic food supply is maintained".

The organisation believes it's finally time for New Zealand to have a food security policy.

I find it alarming that, unlike countless other countries, we don't already have such a policy. I don't mind buying a cheap t-shirt from China, but I'd prefer my vegetables didn't come from there.

With almost a third of Kiwi adults being obese and the country's 5500 fruit and vegetable growers employing 60,000 people, developing a food security policy needs to be a priority for the new Labour-led government.

Currently domestic supply is not being viewed as a national system, with identified strengths and weaknesses, according to Horticulture New Zealand.

"Local, district and regional decision-making doesn't look beyond its borders," the report says.

"While this is appropriate in the context of their planning, no consideration is given to national food supply when land is zoned for housing, or water is allocated."

"A decision made in Hawke's Bay for example, may impact on food supply to the whole South Island," it said.

During winter, there are times when Southland is the only region supplying the domestic market with carrots.

I agree with Horticulture New Zealand when it says security of supply is essential.

The 42-page report is part of a body of evidence being compiled to persuade decision-makers across all levels of government that we need a domestic food security policy.

Horticulture in New Zealand is big business. Kiwis eat 1800 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per day.

The industry's worth $5.6 billion, excluding wine, and we export 60 per cent of what we grow. Our produce ends up in restaurants and kitchens in 124 countries.

Exports increased 40 per cent from June 2014 to 2016, according to the report.

Onions are New Zealand's leading export vegetable crop with 90 per cent of the entire crop sold overseas.

With New Zealand's population predicted to swell to just over five million by 2020, it's vital growers have access to sufficient resources to feed the nation.

You probably recognise the name Bharat Jivan. The Pukekohe vegetable grower was a familiar face on the TV news earlier this year. After back-to-back storms lashed key growing areas, journalists frequently called on Bharat to explain why vegetable prices had spiked.

He features in Horticulture New Zealand's report. Bharat sums up the current situation best when he says "urban encroachment on valuable food growing soils is threatening the sustainability of growers in the Pukekohe region. Pukekohe's frost free slopes which for years grew the country's first new season potatoes are now covered in bricks and mortar. A lot has been lost, but it's not too late to protect this valuable resource for future generations."

I just hope his final sentence doesn't fall on deaf ears.