The Environment Ministry and Stats NZ today released Our Land 2021 - a look at land use and the state of the environment in recent decades. It describes the loss of productive food growing land to urban sprawl, an eroded environment under pressure from more cows and increased intensification. Food production vs housingThe report describes how highly productive agricultural land is being being eaten up by housing developments. The area of highly productive land lost to housing increased by 54 percent between 2002 and 2019. The report said climate change would drive an exacerbate land use problems.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 15, 2021 00:33 UTC