Choosing a local loaf soon to get much easier

Bakers, breakfast cereal makers and plant-based milk manufacturers are already eyeing up the arable industry’s new home-grown logo to help consumers choose products made from local grain.

Ivan Lawrie.

That’s according to Ivan Lawrie, general manager of business operations for the Foundation for Arable Research.

FAR has collaborated with Eat NZ to introduce the ‘NZ Grown Grains’ trademark, for milling wheat, oats and barley.

It’s part of a wider industry campaign underway for about five years, to make NZ more self-sufficient in growing of milling wheat.

Ivan Lawrie says despite the arable industry’s reputation for quality product, at least three-quarters of the bread sold in NZ is made from imported grain, primarily from Australia.

Most consumers don’t realise this when they buy bread from the supermarket.

Market research has shown 50 per cent of bread buyers are prepared to pay up to 20 cents extra a loaf and some up to 50 cents for a loaf guaranteed to be made from NZ-grown grain.

Eat NZ chief executive Angela Clifford says the new campaign is a unique opportunity for farmers to join with bakers, chefs and consumers using their grains and seeds, and tell a compelling story about what makes NZ-grown arable foods so wonderful.

“From the quality to the connection to our land, from food security to social license, we all win when our farmers and those eating the food they grow, work together."

Growers want to expand production and maintain a strong industry, but infrastructure remains a major hurdle.

Most cereal is grown in the South Island, but is expensive to transport to where most consumers live, in the North Island.

“It costs less to transport grain from Australia to the North Island than across Cook Strait from the main growing region of Canterbury,” Ivan Lawrie notes.

“Although the grain component may represent only a small share of a final product’s total cost, even a modest rise in demand can have significant long-term effects, encouraging investment by plant breeders, traders and processors and helping to maintain a diverse and resilient portfolio of cropping options for NZ growers.”

Research commissioned by FAR and Eat NZ has debunked some industry myths which questioned the suitability of NZ grown wheat for baking.

An independent analysis compared the performance of Australian wheat grades most often imported into NZ with domestically-grown wheat in terms of the baking properties of the flour.

“This highlighted the superior performance of NZ milling wheat compared with imported Australian grain. It is not only better than the Australian product, but as good as Canadian, which is rated as the international standard.”

Local grain growers are already certified through a United Wheatgrowers’ QAgrainz quality assurance and traceability programme.

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, an analysis showed that one kilogram of flour, milled in NZ from local wheat has a lower carbon footprint than one kilogram of flour milled using Australian wheat at the same mill.

NZ-grown grain not only has lower transport emissions, but its much higher yields result in lower emissions per tonne of grain, Ivan Lawrie says.

FAR owns the trademark which became available under license from July 1 for companies that meet its specifications.

More publicity around the trademark is planned in spring as food and beverage makers are signed up.