The Environmental Protection Agency has halved the number of agrichemical applications awaiting assessment since July 2024, Minister for the Environment Nicola Grigg says, giving farmers and growers faster access to new crop protection products.

“It was probably the number one topic of feedback I got in my years in opposition,” she says.

Some agrichemical companies withdrew from the market.

“We have to work to provide a framework for companies to come here to develop and to innovate specific to the New Zealand environment.”

The HSNO Act is expected to return from the Select Committee by September.

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