One of the biggest lifestyle choices we make

Ian Proudfoot, Global Head of Agribusiness, KPMG

My life changed forever on the evening of the 16 September 2017. Initially it felt like indigestion, but it didn’t go away. The next morning my wife suggested that I go and get checked out at A&E and thankfully the doctor on duty ran a blood test, otherwise there is a good chance I wouldn’t be here today to write this blog.

The events that followed remain a blur; we think you’ve had a heart attack Mr Proudfoot, an ambulance has been sent to pick you up, we’re admitting you to the cardiac care unit, you’ve got major blockages in three of your coronary arteries, if you’re sensible you will let us open you up and perform bypass surgery.

I am relatively sensible and only one further heart attack later the surgery was completed and after 24 hours in ICU I was on the road to recovery. I am one of the lucky ones who are given the opportunity to survive and thrive after such an event. I recognise I have only been treated, not cured, and the lifestyle choices I make play a big part in determining how much longer I get on this planet. I am also lucky because I can make these choices.

One of the biggest lifestyle choices I make revolves around the food I eat. My period of treatment and recuperation offered me the opportunity to meet people living with non-communicable diseases, like coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, that have become so embedded in certain echelons of our society. People I might not normally meet as KPMG audit partner.

What became clear was these New Zealanders are not living with these potentially fatal diseases out of choice or a lack of thought, but because they lack the ability to make better choices. Many live in food deserts, where they do not have access to healthy food options often taken for granted by others, either due to cost or to healthy options simply not being readily accessible or available. Communities without access to sufficient nutritious affordable food are not remote but exist throughout our major cities. these New Zealanders are our neighbours yet we as senior leaders are often blind to these deserts because we have the ability to make choices.

The country that produces some of the best food in the world left as many as 1 million of our fellow Kiwis inherently food insecure during the first Covid-19 lockdown. This is just not right.

As I thought more about this and applied an economic lens to the problem, it became apparent that our food related health failings present a major risk to the food and beverage story we tell premium consumers around the world. A story about the natural, sustainable, healthy attributes of the food and beverage products we can grow and sell to the world in Aotearoa New Zealand. If our food story is found to lack substance, our ability to capture the premiums that the products we produce deserve becomes more challenging. This kick-started my conversations about #Feedour5millionfirst, initially floating the idea at our Fieldays Agribusiness Leaders Breakfast in June 2019 with the Prime Minister present.

We have argued for years that those within our food and fibre system need to be much more conscious in how they use natural capital to ensure claims made around sustainability are real and verifiable (a message at the core of The Aotearoa Circles’ desire to pursue sustainable prosperity). Many have also recognised that the industry has a key role to play in ensuring that we maintain vibrant rural communities across New Zealand, the recent debates around the right tree in the right place indicating how important this issue is. Add to these widely acknowledged expectations on our food system with the need to provide every New Zealander with access to affordable, healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, and the complexity and significance of the issues in play increases many times. But, so do the benefits of delivering system wide solutions.

Against the background of Covid-19, it is not surprising to me that the number of people and groups within our food system and across our community who believe now is the right time for a co-ordinated effort to design a National Food Strategy has increased exponentially this year. The work we are doing with The Aotearoa Circle to initiate a process which will build a coalition of parties interested in partnering with government in the development of a strategy during 2021, is intended to provide a platform on which the substantive work can commence.

What is clear, is that there are already many groups and organisations doing very relevant work to create a more resilient and sustainable food system in this country. Work is being done by our health system, by iwi, hapu and other community organisations, by our science sector, by not for profits and NGOs and by individual growers as well as their supply chain partners to find solutions to how we sustainably produce food and make it accessible to all New Zealanders. Our work with the Circle is seeking to understand what is already happening, what factors are motivating those behind these initiatives and identify points of commonality around which the work on a National Food Strategy can begin.

The process we will follow has been designed to avoid us predetermining the content of any National Food Strategy that is ultimately generated. However, there are some elements that I expect will be central to the many discussions and consultations that are to come.

I expect that the process will draw heavily on mātauranga Māori - knowledge and insight - to shape a strategy that reflects Aotearoa New Zealand as it is today, as well as one that is fit for future. I hope the process appropriately identifies and responds to the full range of challenges and opportunities inherent within our food system so that the resulting strategy is designed to deliver an inclusive, productive, sustainable and prosperous food system that benefits all New Zealanders.

I am excited to be involved in this project because I believe it is possible to initiate a process that ultimately leads to a strategy that balances the needs of our environment, our culture and communities and our economy. If we can achieve this through a partnership between government and a broad coalition of representatives from across our society, we can create a National Food Strategy that is globally significant because of the comprehensive, collaborative platform on which it is built.

I believe that if we follow the correct process, we will together create a strategy that is inclusive of all New Zealanders. A strategy that makes our pitch to the world - of producing some of the highest quality, healthiest and most sustainable food - truly substantive. A strategy that gives every New Zealander the ability to make choices about the food they eat and the health outcomes they can achieve. A strategy that connects the considered and careful use of our natural capital with the creation of economic returns that benefit all New Zealanders.

There is a lot of hard work and many challenging conversations ahead as we embark on this process. However, if in 30 years’ time we live in a country where we have achieved balance between the environmental, health, cultural and economic aspects of our food system, so that nutritious, sustainable food choices are seen as a right and we all have the prosperity and knowledge to make good choices (most of the time), then the work to come will be more than worthwhile.