The strengthening of local food systems in Aotearoa New Zealand addresses a range of pressing domestic and international issues, including improving food security and affordability for low-income communities, reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to long supply chains, and enhancing community resilience in the face of climate change and natural disasters. Domestically, they support regional economic development, especially in rural and Māori communities, by creating local jobs and value chains. Internationally, they respond to growing global concerns about the sustainability and sovereignty of food, align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and offer models of Indigenous-led food innovation that prioritise cultural knowledge, health equity, and environmental stewardship.

• Partnership – We are not simply stakeholders but Tiriti partners. We ask MPI and other agencies to walk alongside us to shape a local food system that supports community aspirations and resilience.
• Protection – We seek to uphold the safety and wellbeing of communities by enabling safe and nutritionally rich food systems, while also protecting health, the environment and the right to food sovereignty.
• Participation – We ask that regulation be enabling rather than exclusionary. Community members must be able to participate meaningfully in growing, producing, processing, and distributing food without disproportionate barriers.