An industry body leader says New Zealand is at risk of losing significant amounts of its locally grown veggie supply if government policies are not addressed.

John Murphy, of Vegetables NZ, said the current system was broken and local growers were being put out of business.

He said this was not an issue that was 30 or 40 years away, this was an issue right now.

"Growers are being strangled by regional decisions that take too long, make no sense, and ultimately drive them out of business. This isn't just a grower issue - it's a public health issue."

He said vegetable growing needed to become a permitted activity in the current round of resource management reforms.

"In places like Horowhenua there's a very real prospect of growers being told that they can no longer grow as they currently are. That will have a dramatic impact on New Zealand's vegetable supply.

"The reality is that in many places growers are having to operate outside of consents, which is alarming."

There was currently a patchwork of different rules and policies based on different regions which was making it unworkable for some growers, Murphy said.

Associate Minister of Agriculture Nicola Grigg, who is responsible for horticulture, said she understood the commercial vegetable sector was urgently seeking regulatory certainty.

"As the Minister responsible for Horticulture, I am relentlessly focused on supporting the sector's success," Grigg said in a statement.

Government was considering the best ways to address their concerns to enable growth and reduce burdensome regulation that allowed for New Zealand to be an export powerhouse, she said.

Grigg said this included considering policy amendments including proposals relating to freshwater, water storage, and vegetable growing.

Cabinet would take decisions on a new direction for freshwater as part of the government's Quarter 1 action plan to ensure pragmatic rules for on-farm water storage and vegetable growing, she said.

-RNZ