What it shows is that highly productive agricultural land is being gobbled up by housing developments at an alarming rate. When it is considered that only about 15% of our land is ideal for food production, it is disturbing to realise the amount of highly productive land lost to housing increased by 54% between 2002 and 2019. But we must find a way to ensure highly productive land is kept for production so we can feed the country and meet climate change commitments. A National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land is expected from the Government by the end of the year. This is not expected to provide absolute protection of highly productive land but would require local authorities to proactively consider the resource in their region or district to ensure it is available for present and future primary production.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 18, 2021 16:30 UTC