{"id":625045,"date":"2026-10-09T05:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625045\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T05:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:04:09","slug":"election-2026-national-to-negotiate-fertiliser-security-agreements-offer-300m-in-loans-for-water-storage-if-elected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625045\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: National to negotiate fertiliser security agreements, offer $300m in loans for water storage if elected"},"content":{"rendered":"

The $300m in loans was not replacing current private funding, but meant the Government was taking a role to help address the issue. <\/p>\n

\"NationalNational leader Christopher Luxon at Feilding’s Rural Day, which he attended with MPs Todd McClay and Mike Butterick. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

National said it would also develop the first long-term water infrastructure pipeline in partnership with farmers, growers, councils and iwi. It would also publish a rural and provincial<\/a> water-use strategy in 2027, which would include a national storage register. <\/p>\n

On fertiliser, National has promised to negotiate security agreements with key supplier countries to protect New Zealand-bound products from export restrictions and improve supply-chain certainty. This comes after significant disruptions to shipping routes, global fertiliser prices and availability amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. <\/p>\n

\"NationalNational MP for Rangit\u012bkei Suze Redmayne competing in a gumboot race while campaigning at the Feilding Rural Day. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

Butterick said that, without reliable access, the farm sector could not sustain its current production. <\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand plans for fuel security and energy security. National believes we should also plan for fertiliser security to protect New Zealand\u2019s productive economy.\u201d <\/p>\n

The party would also, if elected, create a $10m fund to partner with domestic fertiliser manufacturers to support pathways for long-term domestic nitrogen production and the transition from natural gas to electrification.<\/p>\n

\"NationalNational leader Christopher Luxon in Feilding. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

\u201cNational will prioritise reducing reliance on imports and improve certainty of availability for our farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier today, the Act Party announced it would campaign on ensuring agriculture remained a curriculum subject for Year 11 students. <\/p>\n

The party\u2019s agriculture spokesman, Andrew Hoggard, said he had written to Education Minister Erica Stanford seeking confirmation that it would remain a standalone subject for Year 11 students. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gutted to learn this isn\u2019t the case,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a food- and fibre-producing nation, so learning about our biggest exporter shouldn\u2019t be an unconventional subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luxon, speaking at the Rural Day, said experts had advised that Year 11 was too early to introduce such a specialised science, but it was included for Years 12 and 13. <\/p>\n

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The $300m in loans was not replacing current private funding, but meant the Government was taking a role…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,52404,4882,16390,23999,6694,15559,5903,12967,45554,2082,9858,78,5345,10527,1132,3556,51501,111,43,139,69,13692,4762,2437,11162,19862,61,376,1533,102],"class_list":["post-625045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-52404","tag-300m","tag-agreements","tag-commit","tag-countries","tag-elected","tag-election","tag-farmers","tag-fertiliser","tag-for","tag-if","tag-in","tag-increase","tag-loans","tag-million","tag-national","tag-negotiate","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offer","tag-party","tag-security","tag-storage","tag-supply","tag-to","tag-water","tag-will","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}