> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Month in Food: August 2026 - URL: https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/the-month-in-food-august-2026/ - Published: 2026-08-31T11:59:56.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-31T18:48:55.000Z - Description: August ran on grain: a malthouse closing, a bread process from 1961, a mark worth four cents a loaf, and Bürgen off the shelves inside a week. Plus what a cow is given in its lifetime, why mince costs what it does, and two people in Riverton with 400 apple varieties. - Author: Luke Nicholas - Tags: the month in food, bread, Malt, certification, food prices *Twenty pieces, and the month grain took over.* August ran on grain. A malthouse closing, a bread process from 1961, a mark worth four cents a loaf, and Bürgen off the shelves inside a week. Everything published, grouped by theme, all the links in one place. ## Grain, malt and bread The biggest thread of the month, and the one I did not plan. It started with [New Zealand's largest malthouse closing](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/new-zealands-largest-malthouse-is-closing-heres-what-actually-breaks/). France's Malteurop is shutting Marton, which has supplied around 70% of the country's malt since 1979\. That first piece was about what actually breaks in the supply chain, starting with a number almost every report has misread. Part two followed the ownership back: [who owns the malt in your beer](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/who-owns-the-malt-in-your-beer/). Three French agricultural co-operatives, a private equity firm, a distributor owned by a competitor, and a court judgment nobody was meant to see. I should say plainly that I have worked in brewing since 1997 and I choose the malt we buy, so I have an interest in where it comes from. The same grain question runs through bread. [Four cents a loaf](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/four-cents-a-loaf-what-the-nz-grown-grains-mark-buys-you/) looks at the NZ Grown Grains mark, launched in 2025 to shift the three-quarters of our bread made from imported grain. Four cents buys you a paddock. It does not buy a mill or a malthouse, and the rule that defines the logo has never been made public. Then Bürgen left New Zealand shelves and the replacement lists went up within a day, with nobody asking who makes the alternatives. [Nineteen loaves, two owners](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/burgen-is-gone-two-companies-own-nearly-all-the-rest/), and independent testing that points the opposite way to the nutrition advice. And the piece I enjoyed writing most this month: I went looking for why bread needs an emulsifier and [found a process from 1961](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/i-went-looking-for-why-bread-needs-an-emulsifier-i-found-a-process-from-1961/). A British method that replaces three hours of fermentation with eleven watt-hours of mixing energy. Almost every additive on that label is the bill for the missing time. ## What goes in, and whether anyone tells you Four pieces that turned out to be the same piece. A green sign taped to the Woolworths egg shelf says some free-range flocks have moved indoors. It does not name a supplier, a brand, a date or an end. [Europe caps this at 16 weeks](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/your-free-range-eggs-are-from-hens-that-havent-been-outside/) and then the eggs become barn eggs. New Zealand wrote nothing at all. Then I went looking for [what a New Zealand cow is given in its lifetime](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/what-is-a-new-zealand-cow-given-in-its-lifetime/). Nobody is hiding it. Nobody is telling you either. The record I found is a form that only asks about right now. Part of that answer is changing. [New Zealand is about to stop giving antibiotics to healthy cows](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/new-zealand-is-about-to-stop-giving-antibiotics-to-healthy-cows/): a tube into each quarter of the udder, every cow, every year, around 80 percent of them with nothing wrong. Here is why it happened and why it is ending. And the argument for why any of this matters, from a doctor who spent three hours on Joe Rogan making the case that chronic disease [traces back to one molecule](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/a-doctors-theory-of-why-modern-food-is-making-us-sick/) and a broken relationship with soil. Worth sitting with. ## What it costs, and who takes the margin A reader asked how much of the $10 he pays for a dozen eggs reaches the farmer. [Three economists explained record food prices](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/three-economists-explained-our-food-prices-none-of-them-mentioned-the-supermarkets/) and every cause they named sat somewhere no New Zealander can reach. None of them mentioned the supermarkets. I also stood in front of the mince cabinet and photographed the shelf tags. Cheapest $21.99 a kilo, dearest $33.98, [both of them mince](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/why-is-beef-mince-so-expensive-in-new-zealand/). ## The rules, the badge and the word There is a number in New Zealand's organic rules that decides which growers get independently checked and which are trusted to get it right on their own. [That $10,000 line](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/the-10-000-line-that-decides-which-organic-growers-get-checked/) is open for submissions until 22 September, and you can have a say. The sticker itself has a longer history than you would guess. The BioGro mark on your kiwifruit traces back to [a compost club started in 1941](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/the-1941-gardening-club-that-owns-new-zealands-organic-logo/). No political party has a policy for growing organics here. OANZ took a five-point manifesto to Parliament to change that, and I read all six pages: [what the asks mean at the checkout](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/what-the-organic-sector-wants-from-the-november-election/), and why the scorecard still to come is the real story. Two label questions closed the month. Woolworths sells a certified organic Macro chicken in Australia, so [is the Macro chicken here organic](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/is-woolworths-macro-chicken-organic/)? No. There is organic chicken at Woolworths NZ, but it is not called Macro. And an 85% bar came home from Commonsense with certification on the front and no maker named anywhere: [who made this chocolate](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/who-made-this-chocolate-the-box-wont-say/), and why the box will not say. ## Places, growers and one very good idea [Live2Give hired a mixer wagon to mulch its onions](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/live2give-hired-a-mixer-wagon-to-mulch-its-onions-now-it-is-coming-to-auckland/), grows a maize crop to make its own mulch, backloads other growers' produce on a chilled truck, labels its non-organic lines as non-organic, and starts delivering to Auckland on 3 September. In Riverton, [Robert and Robyn Guyton have saved 400 apple varieties](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/two-people-in-riverton-have-saved-400-apple-varieties-your-supermarket-sells-about-six/) rescued from old Southland orchards. Your supermarket sells about six, and those six are licensed assets with royalty streams. One stretch of Colombo Street in Christchurch holds a certified organic market garden shop, an organic butchery, a bulk refillery, a Sunday farmers' market and the last stand-alone malthouse in the country. [About as close as New Zealand gets](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/can-you-do-a-full-organic-shop-on-foot-in-christchurch/) to a walkable organic weekly shop. And the calendar: [Organic Wine Week runs 21 to 27 September](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/organic-wine-week-2026/), with over 70 certified organic wines from 25 producers pouring at the Auckland tasting. What is on, what the word on the bottle covers, and whether it costs you more. ## Where to go next If you are new here, [Start Here](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/start-here/) is the shortest route in. [The Guides](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/guides/) collects the eggs, chicken and water hubs. [What To Buy](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/what-to-buy/) is the practical version. And [the Map](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/places/) has 128 hand-checked places across the country. September has three dates on it already: Live2Give's first Auckland run on the 3rd, submissions on the organic rules closing on the 22nd, and Organic Wine Week the week before that. Every edition of The Month in Food is [here](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/tag/the-month-in-food/). --- **Before you go** If you want these in your inbox, [sign up free](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/#/portal/signup). If the work is useful and you would rather not sign up for anything, [you can leave a tip](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/#/portal/support).