A Wairarapa couple making dried pasta from locally grown durum wheat took out the Supreme Award at the Outstanding Food Producer Awards this week. Ivan Lawrie, General Manager of Operations at the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), says it signals a win for the New Zealand Grown Grains initiative and Arable industry.

“The background to that is the Wairarapa Grains Collective and the durum wheat initiative that got kicked off during COVID, as a result of a previous biosecurity incident in the Wairarapa which couldn’t allow us to grow peas,” he says .

“We were looking at alternative products, and one thing led to another and we’ve had this wonderful story come out of it, through the passion of the growers and the passion of local food producers.”

The pasta business, Monty’s and Sons, sources grain from four grower families within about 10 kilometres of the production site. The New Zealand Grown Grains trademark licence and logo registration are free, Lawrie says, but licensees must submit to an audit verifying the New Zealand origin of their ingredients.

The scheme has grown faster than Lawrie expected.

“I did not expect to have such a strong list of people contacting us and asking how to join up or how to support, how to put the logo on their vehicles or on their shop windows,” he says.

“There are products that are getting sold online, those might be baked goods, oils or pasta, going to thousands of customers every day through New Zealand.”

Lawrie says they now have feed manufacturers who are very strongly supporting this programme.

“We want New Zealand exports from our dairy industry, from our livestock sectors, to also include in their diet products that are grown in New Zealand, rather than imports.

“I think that sells a much better story for our products overseas.”

Lawrie says he will speak at an event at Gladfield Malt on 3 June, with local growers and government representatives, to celebrate New Zealand grown grains and promote the certification trademark. He says the event is an opportunity for the sector to shift focus.

“Arable growers have been doing it tough this year, and in particular coming out of quite a difficult harvest situation on top of everything else.

“This is an opportunity to really leave that aside a bit, and celebrate the good news stories that we need to put ahead of ourselves.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.