[WEBINAR] Next Gen Organic, Farming Beyond Convention

Organics Aotearoa New Zealand’s Frontline Perspectives webinar Next Gen Organic, Farming Beyond Convention stood out by ditching the polished sector-speak and letting grounded voices describe farming, food, and the future as they actually play out on the ground. Hosted by Brendan Hoare on 5 March 2026, the webinar brought together Penny Platt, Zeb Horrell, and Eli Pohio for a discussion that was less about slogans and more about where the next energy in organic and regenerative farming might come from.

This was not a glossy policy pitch or a dry market report. It was a candid panel conversation about what is working, what is not, and what a healthier food future might require.

The mix gave it real texture. Penny brought hands-on realism from years in organic vegetable production. Zeb brought ecological and community depth. Eli brought youthful pressure around decentralisation and policy.

The strongest insight: the future is not just “more organic”

One of the most valuable things about the webinar was that it did not reduce progress to a simple question of how to make organic farming bigger.

Penny repeatedly pushed the conversation toward the deeper issue: not just mainstreaming organics, but making healthy food more accessible, reducing the harms of industrial agriculture, and sharing practical knowledge more widely across the food system.

That is a much stronger frame than the usual label-driven argument.

It shifts the focus toward outcomes:

• healthier food
• stronger farming systems
• fewer ecological harms
• better knowledge sharing
• greater food security

If organics stays premium-priced and niche, it risks remaining admirable but marginal. The webinar did not solve that tension, but it did name it honestly. That alone makes it more useful than a lot of softer promotional material.

Penny Platt brought the most substance

If there was one standout voice, it was Penny Platt.

Her comments carried the weight of someone dealing with real farm complexity rather than talking from ideology. She spoke openly about feeding what is often an elite market, the strain of growing too many crops just to keep a shop model going, the need for greater collaboration among growers, and the reality that many food producers are simply not paid enough.

That last point may have been the most important in the entire webinar.

Too many food conversations drift into health, climate, ethics, or purity without confronting the uncomfortable economic core: a lot of the people producing food are underpaid, overstretched, or effectively subsidising the system with their own labour. Penny put that on the table directly.

She also made another important point that deserves more attention in New Zealand: conventional growers are not always the enemy. In her experience, many are open to ideas, open to learning, and interested in what organic growers have discovered, even if they are not ready to convert fully themselves.

That is a stronger and more constructive posture than turning agriculture into another cultural trench war.

Collaboration kept surfacing for a reason

If the webinar had a central word, it was probably collaboration.

Usually that word risks becoming fluffy wallpaper. Here, it mostly held up. The panel kept returning to the idea that the future of better farming is unlikely to come from isolated operators trying to carry every burden alone.

Penny framed collaboration in practical terms like sales channels, marketing, and supporting other growers. Zeb described community as a form of real infrastructure, not just emotional support. Skills exchange, equipment sharing, and stronger local networks can meet needs that people often assume can only be solved with more cash.

That is not wishful thinking. That is a different kind of infrastructure.

Zeb Horrell brought ecological depth

Zeb added some of the webinar’s soul.

He spoke about ecological function, insects, agroforestry, hard work, and the need to keep attention on living systems rather than reducing everything to abstract metrics. That mattered because modern food discussions can become strangely sterile. Carbon figures, biodiversity indicators, and policy frameworks all have their place, but once they detach from the actual life of farms and landscapes, the conversation starts sounding like a spreadsheet in gumboots.

He also made an interesting observation about younger people and community. His point was not simply that younger farmers need to be welcomed into existing structures, but that sometimes new communities need to be built rather than inherited.

That feels right.

A lot of legacy institutions may still have value, but they are not always shaped in ways that younger growers naturally want to enter. Zeb’s strongest contributions were less about specific technique and more about orientation. Farming, in his framing, is not just production. It is stewardship, practice, and relationship.

Eli Pohio brought provocation and edge

Eli was probably the most uneven speaker, but also one of the most interesting.

His role in the conversation was not to sound polished. It was to push. He brought attention to decentralised food systems, questioned the idea that technological fixes like genetic engineering should automatically be treated as the answer, and argued that organic and regenerative advocates need to offer incentives and alternatives, not just criticism.

That is a useful challenge.

Some of his policy ideas, especially around tax settings and local food incentives, felt more like sketches than finished policy. But that is acceptable in a webinar like this as long as they are treated for what they are: sparks, not blueprints.

He also touched on something real in farming culture, which is the perception problem around terms like “regenerative,” and the lingering influence of conventional input systems that many people still take for granted.

The webinar worked because it was honest

Where this webinar really landed was in the moments where it stopped trying to sell a movement and started describing reality.

That included:

• food insecurity
• underpaid growers
• food pricing built around industrial systems
• the challenge of entering farming without land
• the importance of practical, hands-on learning
• the awkward gap between idealism and implementation

That honesty gave the discussion weight.

It did not feel like a shiny campaign video pretending everything is one policy tweak away from harmony. It felt like people who can see both the beauty and the structural mess.

What was missing

For all its strengths, the webinar left some important gaps.

The main one was economics.

The panel touched the edges of it, especially Penny, but never fully drove into the core question: how do we make healthier, more ecological food systems genuinely viable for growers and affordable for families?

That is the hinge. Without answering that, “next gen organic” can still sound inspiring but remain niche.

There was also not enough specificity around policy. Government support came up, but mostly in broad terms. There was room for sharper questions:

• What exact policies would help?
• What should change first?
• What would success look like in five years?
• Which barriers are cultural, which are financial, and which are regulatory?

At points, the webinar also drifted into broad language about community, support, and the future without pinning those ideas down enough. A little more pressure from the host could have turned some good reflections into stronger answers.

The deeper message underneath it all

Underneath the different personalities and angles, the webinar pointed toward something important:

The future of organics in New Zealand will not be won by certification alone, lifestyle branding, or export prestige. It will depend on whether the knowledge, values, and practical insights developed in organic and regenerative spaces can help reshape the wider food system.

That means:

• collaboration over siloed identity
• practical skills over abstract slogans
• affordability and access over niche virtue
• better pay for producers
• stronger local systems
• a willingness to influence mainstream agriculture, not just stand apart from it

That is the real gold.

Final verdict

Next Gen Organic, Farming Beyond Convention was a worthwhile webinar because it offered something more valuable than polish: it offered direction.

Penny Platt was the standout voice for realism and substance. Zeb Horrell brought ecological depth and cultural perspective. Eli Pohio added urgency and provocation. Together, they created a conversation that felt alive, imperfect, and worth paying attention to.

It did not provide a complete roadmap. It did not solve the economics. It did not go deep enough on implementation. But it did surface the right tensions.

And that may be the most useful thing a webinar can do.

The strongest takeaway was not that organics simply needs to get bigger. It was that the next generation of farming in New Zealand may need to be more collaborative, more practical, more accessible, and more willing to share useful knowledge beyond the boundaries of the organic label itself.

That is a conversation worth continuing.

Watch the webinar

Next Gen Organic, Farming Beyond Convention