ownership
New Zealand's commercial grower count has fallen from 7,000 to 4,300 in 20 years, and its produce wholesalers may drop from three to two. Inside the Commerce Commission's Statement of Issues on the J&P Turner and T&G Fresh merger, and what it means for growers.
seed
The seed stand at your garden centre looks like a dozen competing brands. Four of them are contracted through one family business in New Plymouth that imports from eight countries. Here is where the names actually go, and what a packet will never tell you.
dairy
New Zealand's state farmer just made a record profit. Most people don't know it exists, or that it runs the country's largest organic dairy operation. The reason goes back to a century of land ballots, and ends with cull cows certified for the American market.
food prices
A reader asked how much of the $10 he pays for a dozen eggs reaches the farmer and how much the supermarket clips. Nobody in the article was asked. Three economists explained record food prices, and every cause they named sat somewhere no New Zealander can reach.
Malt
Beer has four ingredients and malt is the one nobody thinks about. Follow it back from a New Zealand bottle and you reach three French agricultural co-operatives, a private equity firm, a distributor owned by a competitor, and a court judgment nobody was meant to see. Part two of the malt series.
bread
Bürgen left New Zealand shelves in August 2026 and the replacement lists went up within a day. Nobody asked who makes the alternatives. Nineteen loaves, two owners, and independent testing that points the opposite way to the nutrition advice.
eggs
The egg aisle looks like healthy competition — eight brands, a range of prices, lots of welfare claims. Follow the ownership trails and it's more concentrated than it appears.
