Vegetable sales ‘static’

Press, 23 August 1979, Page 22

Vegetable sales ‘static’

The future of New Zealand vegetable production must depend on the potential for export sales because the domestic market had become static, partly because of population losses a convention at Lincoln College was told. Mr W. Brandenburg, horticultural advisor in Christchurch with the Ministry of Agriculture, told the twenty-fifth annual convention of the Institute of Agricultural Science that total production losses had occurred over the last 10 years even though areas grown had increased.

For example, he said, asparagus acreage had increased between 1967 and 1977, but total production had decreased both for the domestic and export markets. It was the same for green beans and cauliflower, but there had been an increased production of cabbage, lettuce and, especially, onions.

The “static” domestic market had been brought about not only by emigration but also because of higher costs, different lifestyles and habits of consumption. The weather for the past decade had also had a marked effect on vegetable crops, Mr Brandenburg said. Even onions, which he called “a boom crop,” had been subjected to yearly fluctuations, some extreme. Nevertheless, onion exports in 1967 totalled 4812 tonnes and, by 1977, had reached 41,017 tonnes.

The demand for local consumption remained practically constant, however. Asparagus was “in a slump” at present, he said, with a big drop in 10 years in both the acreage grown and production. Processed vegetables had fared reasonably well, especially peas, but the peak might have been already reached. Processing companies,

Mr Brandenburg said, were already reducing their extensive stocks of processed vegetables and exports might begin to show a decline. While the production of glasshouse vegetables had increased, the future of that industry, he said, “appears uncertain” as the air transport of fresh vegetables was becoming too expensive.