Employment Law for Kiwifruit Growers

Holland Beckett is a longstanding sponsor and supporter of the Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year awards. Our Bay of Plenty location and the importance of horticulture to the region, means it\'s only natural for us to support the future leaders of the horticulture industry.  The Young Grower Awards are an opportunity for local young growers to develop key skills and build connections as they embark on what will likely be very successful careers. Holland Beckett sponsor the final challenge, the speech competition, where the competitors have to speak to a room of hundreds of poeple attending the gala dinner - a little different to other competition modules which test practical skills and on-the-spot problem solving in horticulture, but no less challenging. Senior Solicitor, Grace Titter, joined the judging panel. Congratulations to this year\'s Holland Beckett Speech Competition winner, Phoebe Scherer - who also took out the overall Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year title. The event was a great success, celebrating and supporting an industry which is so vital to the region and communities within it.

Perfectly placed to advise on rural legal challenges and opportunities, our rural law experts from Tauranga, Whakatāne and Rotorua are headed to Fieldays this year. Fieldays is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest agricultural event and the ultimate launch platform for cutting edge technology and innovation. With around 1000 exhibitors showcasing rural products and services, Fieldays draws over 100,000 visitors each year who are seeking the best deals and first-hand information from the Primary Industry\'s most reputable suppliers and organisations. We\'re looking forward to being a part of this years event. Come and chat to the team - Rural Living marquee - site RM148. On site we will have expert lawyers covering all areas of the rural lifestyle, including: Asset, estate and succession planning Rural property law - whether it be buying, selling, subdividing, leasing, financing and operating rural property, farms and orchards. Litigation and dispute resolution in a rural context Environment and planning - helping to navigate increasingly complex regulatory environments such as resource consents and compliance, freshwater, significant natural areas, land development, farming regulations, reforms Renewable energy and solar specialists - we guide and advise clients on every stage and legal aspect of an energy project, from planning and development to operation Employment law for farms and farmers, including Health and Safety Horticulture - from sale and purchase of orchards, to kiwifruit licences, boundary adjustments, packhouse agreements, orchard development and management agreements Forestry rights and harvest agreements, transportation and logistics contracts, Emission Trading Scheme

The Environment Court recently released its decision in Blue Grass Limited v Dunedin City Council [2024] NZEnvC 83 which deals with the definition of Highly Productive Land (HPL) in the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL). The Court has found that it is not open to applicants in consent processes to challenge the Land Use Capability (LUC) of their land as mapped by the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI), even if more detailed site investigations conclude that land is not LUC 1, 2 or 3. Put another way, land zoned rural that the NZLRI has mapped as LUC 1, 2 or 3 is ‘stuck’ as HPL for the time being, until regional councils introduce changes to their regional policy statements. The Environment Court was tasked with answering the question of whether more detailed mapping undertaken by consent applicants since the commencement of the NPS-HPL (17 October 2022) using the LUC classification system could prevail over the identification of land as LUC 1, 2 or 3 as mapped by the NZLRI. This would in turn determine whether land is classified as HPL. The Court’s answer was no. The NPS-HPL provides that regional councils must undertake mapping of HPL within its region and as soon as is practicable (but not later than 3 years from the commencement date of the NPS-HPL) notify a proposed regional policy statement that identifies all HPL by way of maps. Regional councils are still undertaking this mapping and until this is completed cl 3.5(7) of the NPS-HPL sets up the interim definition of HPL as being land which “at the commencement date” of the NPS-HPL is (with some exclusions): (i) zoned general rural or rural production; and (ii) is identified as LUC 1, 2 or 3. Dunedin City Council’s position was that the qualifier of “at the commencement date” in cl 3.5(7) means that the LUC mapping must have been in place at the commencement date. Its submission was that this creates a holding position for protection of HPL until the Otago Regional Council completes its long term mapping and undertakes a change to the RPS as required by clauses 3.4 and 3.5 of the NPS-HPL. That argument was accepted by the Court – the interim definition was intended to create a holding position protecting all land that may be classified as HPL by regional council mapping, until that mapping does occur. Ultimately, what this means is that landowners and consent applicants are unable to undertake their own mapping of specific sites to seek to lessen the LUC of their land and therefore remove it from an HPL classification, in turn easing the consenting pathway. They must instead wait for the relevant regional council to notify a change to its regional policy statement relating to HPL, and then participate in that process if they seek to argue that their land is not HPL. Alternatively, land owners and consent applicants will need to rely solely on the exceptions for use and development of HPL contained in cl 3.6, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10. We expect applicants will seek to test the boundaries of these exceptions in light of this decision. Knowing the LUC classification of rural land as per the NZLRI mapping will have increased importance for purchasers considering potential development opportunities, given the restrictions the NPS-HPL contains and its lack of ‘wiggle room’. If you require any assistance with or wish to discuss this decision or the NPS-HPL generally, please feel free to get in touch with a member of our specialist environment law and resource management team.