Opinion: Thanking ambulance service, and welcoming new business

Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan. Photo / Jack Penman

Weekly column by Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan.

Last Thursday, councillor Sophie Handford and I dressed up in our onesies to participate in a council [Zoom] meeting. We broke protocol to support Wellington Free Ambulance's Onesie Day annual street collection.

For the second year the Covid lockdown compromised its biggest annual fundraising event. This year, the organisation, that saves thousands of lives, had launched a digital Onesie Day. You can still post a onesie picture of yourself and text ONESIE to 3181 to make a $3 contribution. I posted a picture with my grandson Kiaan who, within his 11-week life, had been taken twice to Wellington Hospital by Wellington Free Ambulance. Like, so many others, we are eternally grateful.

K Gurunanthan with grandson Kiaan.

Talking about safer healthy living, some really good news last week with the announcement of a new business in Kāpiti. Sustainable Foods Ltd has based itself at the old Fonterra site in Paraparaumu. They are at the cutting-edge business of manufacturing a range of plant protein based foodstuffs.

It signals Kāpiti's active participation in a climate change shift from high emissions animal protein production to plant-based protein products. A shift increasingly pushed by an ethics-motivated global consumer market, especially among the younger generation, conscious of the climate crisis and animal welfare issues caused by factory farming. Sustainable Foods arrival is also good timing with its CEO Justin Lemmens announcing his intention to secure local partners to supply sustainable produce to his business.

Historically, Greater Ōtaki used to be the food basket of Wellington City. In the last three decades our local productive land has been under pressure from urban development pushing up from Wellington City. Dairy farmers and horticulturists have found it more lucrative to convert their land to subdivisions. This pressure is increasing.

Central government has been conscious about the loss of valuable productive soils caused by sprawling suburban housing. Its National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land is currently going through the legislative process.

The strategic importance of sustainable food supply chains was highlighted more recently during last year's first Covid-19 lockdown. More people are now aware of the term food security.

But the local alert to what was happening to Kāpiti's food security and the threat to our productive soils was made about 12 years ago by KCDC senior manager Gael Ferguson. She commissioned two research papers. One identifying the socio-economics underpinning the historical, current status, and future potential of Greater Ōtaki's rural industry. The second was the identification and scientific analysis of Kāpiti's productive soils. But for a decade those responsible for Kāpiti's economic development strategy paid little or no heed to the potential of the rural economy. The development strategy itself was shaped by urbanites.

There has been a shift this year with the appointment of the Kotahitanga Board which oversees Kāpiti's new economic development strategy. Practical connections have been made with government agencies like MBIE which are supporting cutting-age regenerative farming technologies to produce healthier produce that also safeguard the biodiversity of our soil and waterways. These are related to a wide-ranging set of measures to reduce the impact of climate change.

For Kāpiti the shift towards regenerative farming is good news to significant Māori landowners who appreciate the values of this type of farming to their traditional knowledge of sustainable farming that protects their land and waterways and healthy lifestyles. Later this year, the council will be consulting the public on our draft growth strategy. It's an opportunity to ensure our growth is one that not only provides solutions to our housing problems but also protects our food security.