Kia ora koutou, welcome to the first edition of MPI Organic News for 2024

We hope that your summer has been both refreshing and productive. As we continue our work on the organic regulations alongside the sector, we wanted to thank you for all your hard work and commitment during 2023.

It’s another busy year and our team has been working hard on the supplementary notice proposals for your consultation. Read below to find out how you can get involved prior to the March consultation.

In case you missed it, the Organic Products And Production Act: Organic Standards Regulations – Cabinet Paper is published and available to view. Appendix One of the paper outlines the proposals that have been agreed to by Cabinet.  We’re pleased to announce that the Parliamentary Counsel Office have started drafting the Organic Standards Regulations based on these proposals.

The project team’s focus has now turned to the content of the supplementary notices that will support the standard regulations. The supplementary notices focus on the technical content of the standard.  Much of this content was consulted on last year and the team are now refining this based on submissions received ready for public consultation.

We are reaching out to subject matter experts from across the sector and the Organic Sector Advisory Council to assist with refining the notice content where needed. The aim is to ensure the content is accurate as possible for public consultation.  This will assist with the tight deadlines we’re working with to negotiate an agreement with the European Union.

The targeted sessions we’re running with sector experts so far include:

• Poultry stocking rates
• Aquaculture
• Livestock health and welfare

Please note that everyone will have opportunity to provide feedback as part of the public consultation process in March. During the public consultation period we will hold drop-in sessions to provide opportunities for discussion.

Keep an eye out for the next editions of Organic News for an announcement on the consultation dates and the drop-in sessions.