If Auckland housing spreads onto Pukekohe's elite growing soils, Kiwi households will have to rely on expensive imported vegetables.

That's the warning from HortNZ natural resources manager Chris Keenan, who is worried the true cost of uncontrolled Auckland sprawl is not understood.

Pukekohe's elite soils are irreplaceable, says Bharat Jivan Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association president

'We know we need a bigger Auckland, but do we want to pay $10 a kilo for vegetables imported from China?”

His comments follow increasing pressure from both the National Government and the Labour Party on the Auckland Council to increase its boundaries under its unitary plan to allow for more housing.

Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association president Bharat Jivan told SunLive that announcement has he and other Pukekohe growers very worried too.

'When we heard the Government's comments yesterday, we were texting each other with our concerns. The situation is becoming very political.”

Pukekohe's Class One soils and their location are irreplaceable, he says, and should they be lost New Zealand's year-round supply of vegetables such as potatoes, onions, carrots and lettuce would be seriously impacted.

The class one soils of Pukekohe are under threat from Auckland's growth.

Along with HortNZ, Bharat as president of the Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association made an extensive joint submission to the Auckland Unitary Plan's independent hearings on behalf of growers.

'I think we did a good job and the hearing commissioners asked some good questions, but we now have to wait six weeks to find out what is in the Auckland Unitary Plan.”

The proposed plan has identified Pukekohe as a priority satellite town for 50,000 people and 9000 new jobs in the next 30 years. It includes future urban zone land around Pukekohe, for residential, business and industrial use.

Bharat says the urban area has been moving into prime production land for years and many growers, including Jivan Produce, which he co-owns with his brother Pravin, have houses as close neighbours.

'In the last 40 years, about 10,000 hectares of elite and prime land has been lost to urban development.”

This includes areas at Otahuhu, Papatoetoe, Mangere and Pukekohe.

'About one-third of all countryside living sites occupy elite or prime land. This means large parts of this finite resource have already been taken out of production, or have their productivity significantly reduced.”

Chris says there is food grown now in Pukekohe and around Auckland which cannot be grown anywhere else in the country at certain times of the year. Uncontrolled sprawl does not just effect land availability, it also can disrupt water supply by blocking aquifer recharge.

'If that land disappears under houses, then we will either eat imported product at ridiculous prices, or go without.

'Allowing Auckland city to continue to spread on to productive areas is a food security nightmare waiting to happen,” says Chris.

'This issue is far too important to allow any political party, or all of them, to use it to score political points.”

HortNZ fully supports the efforts of the Auckland City Council to establish a Rural Urban Boundary which is based on thorough research, adequate science and established community need.

It also recognises the need for more housing and has already offered solutions to the Unitary Plan independent panel.

'Food security and food production values need to be part of this discussion. Auckland Council is trying to do this and we will continue to work with them where we can,” says Chris.