Agriculture Minister Todd McClay

New Zealand farmers are the world’s best, but they have been held back by excessive regulation and compliance costs that harmed productivity and investment.

The Coalition Government is committed to fixing this by cutting red tape so that you can get on with the job of providing local and global customers with premium quality protein.

Work is already underway on a new workable freshwater policy, providing certainty to ensure investment in water storage and making common-sense improvements to stock exclusion rules.

We are engaging with the European Union on their proposed deforestation regulations. My view is that New Zealand has very strong and enforced deforestation regulations, so deforestation is not an issue for us as a country. We are working to mitigate any unnecessary burden on New Zealand exporters.

This Government will repeal the ban on Genetic Engineering (GE) and liberalise GE laws while ensuring strong protections for human and environmental health. There are potential opportunities for stud breeders to export genetics and farming technologies to economies supporting rapidly growing populations.

We have set a target of doubling the value of our exports over 10 years and are focused on opening up new market opportunities and reducing non-tariff barriers – customs delays, red tape, and technical issues – affecting almost NZ$10 billion worth of trade.

The Coalition Government backs the New Zealand red meat sector and is committed to ensuring you remain competitive in overseas markets. We know that cost of living pressures have seen a recent fall in beef export prices but we are working hard to improve market access conditions as prices recover and global economies stabilise.