Pulse Check results signal urgent action needed to strengthen innovation and supply resilience
APHANZ’s February 2026 Pulse Check results show overall sentiment is largely unchanged from November, though it’s encouraging to see some communication and engagement improvement, particularly with the EPA. The work underway across both regulatory agencies around approval pathways and the backlog of applications in the queue is acknowledged, but the voices from the ground show results are yet to be seen on the ground.
See full results of APHANZ Pulse Check_Feb 2026
The survey results represent the real-world perspectives of global R&D organisations with the highest number of applications in the queue, alongside all major respected R&D companies operating in New Zealand.
They reflect what respondents are experiencing on the ground — particularly for the applications that matter most to them: new products and new label uses. These are inherently complex, require more assessment, and will always take more time. But more than a year after the Ministry for Regulation’s review of approval pathways for agricultural and horticultural products, these results show New Zealand is losing ground in global supply chains.
This Pulse Check survey also specifically explored the downstream impact of ongoing delays on investment in R&D and innovation. Results show a consensus view from respondents that compared with other markets, NZ is less attractive for launching innovation based on regulatory performance.
New Zealand is at a crossroads of flexibility and control. Our regulatory settings must evolve to keep pace with global partners and protect our primary sector from escalating supply chain risk.
The current geopolitical environment presents a strategic opportunity. There are actions that can be taken now, without legislative change to adapt our regulatory settings, so New Zealand farmers and growers can secure lower costs, faster access to innovation, and more resilient supply.
Why does this matter?
New Zealand’s food and fibre sectors rely on a wide range of agchemicals and veterinary medicines to stay productive, manage pests and diseases, and meet market access requirements. Timely access to a diversity of tools is essential to buffer supply chain shocks, price volatility, and the replacement of older products that carry trade risk.
Recent global events mean global suppliers are reviewing their supply chains more closely than ever and advising that New Zealand is no longer treated as a preferred first registration market.
While New Zealand remains a small, potentially attractive market, the reality is competing countries have introduced more flexible, faster, and lower cost regulatory pathways. This shift is structural, with tightening geopolitics and heavily subsidised competition abroad increasing pressure.
The risk is clear - without change, New Zealand becomes slower, more expensive, and less commercially viable for global suppliers. This heightens the probability of further product loss and supply concentration.
A window of opportunity
APHANZ members are globally connected suppliers with strong international partnerships. There is a clear opportunity for government and industry to work together to leverage these relationships for New Zealand’s strategic benefit.
This reinforces why the core pillars of the APHANZ Blueprint for Change are so critical:
- Deepen international collaboration with trusted regulators — including the APVMA/NZFS MoU and implementation of Self‑Assessable Changes (allows companies to self-assess minor changes with no specific NZ risk).
- Enable rapid assessments and a streamlined approval pathway to accelerate the processing of applications for new products and R&D trials.
- Targeting regulatory effort on the highest‑impact registrations for new products and new label uses. These matter most for farmers, growers, and veterinarians.
What we stand to gain
- Mitigate supply risk - faster, lower‑cost entry makes New Zealand commercially viable, improving continuity of supply and access to new products.
- Mitigate price volatility - front of mind for industry, farmers and growers.
- Free up regulatory capacity - to focus on high‑impact, high‑risk applications—accelerating access to essential products and reducing backlog‑driven delays.
- Predictable and timely pathways - to encourage and retain investment in R&D and ensuring New Zealand’s primary sector have access to modern and broad toolkit quickly and maintain resilience when older products are withdrawn globally.
Moving from intent to impact
The Pulse Check results are a timely reminder - regulatory reform must progress to deliver tangible results on the ground.
APHANZ’s Blueprint for Change provides immediate, practical levers that can result in real improvements now — well before legislative reform is complete.
This is an opportunity to back our primary sector to win - to seize lower costs, faster innovation - to compete with and get ahead of fiercer often heavily subsidised global competition.
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