Protection Of Auckland’s Remaining Food Growing Areas

As Auckland’s inner growing areas are most important to have the best produce and to preserve the best growing locations.

 

Lets assume that roads could be partly congested with daily food deliveries.

 

This highlights the inbound transportation metrics of potentially up to 1.5M kilograms of food into Auckland per day. There is most certainly a co-efficient of proximity that is related to food costs.

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From an energy perspective here are some points to consider when looking to preserve growing areas:

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• Further for food to travel increases carbon emission and perpetual daily cost of trucks and driver time on the road.

• As we consume the same quantity of food, when a growing area is demolished, it has to be re-established somewhere else.

• Crop land re-establishment is a costly two-step process with requirements such as irrigation, construction costs, earthworks and production issues and delays. Replacement growing areas are usually met with compromised growing conditions as traditional growing areas are north facing, with better soil and low frost such as areas north of the Bombay hills. From where will Auckland get its onions and other produce when Pukekohe is infilled? From where?

• Growers are better compensated for unrealized capital gain than to sell crop-land for development, that otherwise makes all of Auckland an uneconomic city. Food is a primary economic need, we can protect what is left and let technology do the work to help restore the economic advantage.