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The vegetable industry in New Zealand involves 2,500 commercial growers growing a wide range of vegetable crops on 50,000 hectares of land. Production is spread around the country with the main regions being Pukekohe, Waikato, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Wanganui and Canterbury.
The New Zealand vegetable industry has consolidated in recent years with a reduction in the number of market gardeners and the development of large diverse commercial vegetable growing businesses. In many regions farms grow a range of vegetable, arable and forage crops, and graze livestock. This mixed farming system facilitates crop rotations and helps to manage business risk.
Domestic retail sales of fresh and processed vegetables are estimated at $1 billion each year while export earnings range between $500 and $550 million.
Frozen peas, sweetcorn, mixed vegetables and potatoes, and carrot juice and tomato paste and purees are the main processed vegetable products.
Japan is the main market for fresh vegetable exports, particularly squash and capsicum, while Australia is the main export market for processed vegetables.
The incursion of the tomato/potato psyllid in 2006 and its associated bacterium, (detected in 2008) has caused significant problems for tomato, capsicum and potato growers, particularly in the North Island. Integrated pest management options are being researched with industry and government funding.
MPI conducts an annual assessment of the vegetable sector's performance and forecasts those trends most likely to affect the sector in the medium term. This assessment is published in Situation and Outlook for New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry (SONZAF) reports.
MPI's farm monitoring programme monitors the production and financial status of a range of vegetable crops grown in specific parts of the country. The Horticulture Monitoring Report for Vegetables also discusses sector trends and issues. Community-led innovation, collaboration, and sustainability are the themes of a report, Sustainable Farming Fund: Ten Years of Grassroots Action, released in October 2010 to mark 10 years of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Sustainable Farming Fund.
The main organisations representing the New Zealand vegetable sector include: