New Zealand Gardening Law Hoax

Submission 21,025

About

New Zealand Gardening Ban Hoax is an online rumor which asserts that home gardening and other horticultural activities are illegal in the island country of New Zealand.

Origin

One of the earliest online discussions regarding the legality of growing vegetables in New Zealand can be found on ENZ forum^[2] in a thread posted on November 26th, 2011. In the thread, several participants cited critical and even alarmist interpretations of Food Bill 160-2, a legislative proposal calling for sweeping reforms and amendments to New Zealand's domestic food regulatory regime, many of which implied that the bill could result in severe restrictions on home gardening and selling homegrown produce.

Food Act 2014

The rumor of New Zealand's purported nationwide ban on personal gardening stemmed from public discussions about Food Bill 160-2^[1], which was first introduced by the New Zealand Parliament on May 26th, 2010. After several years of deliberation and reviews of the proposal, Food Bill 160-2 was legislated into law by the New Zealand Parliament on June 6th, 2014, and went into effect as of March 1st, 2016.

Spread

On May 23rd, 2013, Yahoo Answers user Trashcan submitted a question^[3] titled "Is it really illegal to grow your own food in New Zealand?" to which several users responded by mentioning the Food Bill, with some clarifying that the law wouldn't impose restrictions on personal horticultural activities, such as growing vegetables and fruits at home.

On November 25th, 2014, Redditor WhyNotSmeagol submitted a post titled "can you have a garden in New Zealand" to /r/newzealand, asking the locals about the legal status of owning a garden in the Oceanic island country. Prior to its archival, the post garnered 1,379 points (97% upvoted) and 377 comments, with virtually all participants in the thread offering a range of fabricated, tongue-in-cheek explanations that support the hearsay cited in the original post.

On November 26th, New Zealand news site Stuff reported on the birth of the bizarre myth on Reddit, which highlighted several facetious replies from the thread. On November 27th, MetaFilter user Sebmojo submitted a link to the Stuff article in a post titled "The Spring Bok-Choi Riots of 1981," along with an excerpt of a comment posted by Redditor Sacredsnowhawk in the original thread.

"My brother was killed in the Moutua Gardens protest. My uncle lost an arm in the 1981 Spring Bok-choi Riots. My sisters were arrested and thrown into prison, without trial, by a police-led mob after they were discovered re-potting gardenias. Every day I live in fear, alienated by my community for having relatives marked by the Green Thumb. I envy the dead."

Resurgence in 2016

In 2015, the rumor gradually waned following the legislation of the bill. Then in June 2016, the rumor resurfaced online with a new twist amidst a critical shortage and price inflation of avocados in New Zealand. On June 16th, 2016, Redditor DinaDinaDinaBatman submitted a photograph of his mom posing with a peace sign and a scarf around her face in a post titled "Even My Mom Flouts the Law….Growing her Own Avocado in her Illegal Garden." Over the next seven days, the post garnered more than 4,818 points (91% upvoted) and 696 comments on /r/newzealand, eventually reaching the front page of Reddit.

On June 19th, Redditor SiameseVegan re-posted the photograph originally submitted by Redditor DinaDinaDinaBatman to /r/pics in a post titled "New Zealand Woman Poses with Illegally Planted Avocado Tree," which once again reached the front page of Reddit after garnering 4,866 points (80% upvoted) and 2,959 comments. That same day, Redditor Heavy_Metal_Viking submitted a photograph of a rectangular pit on a lawn in a /r/newzealand post titled "My garden was seized today. Fuck you /r/NZ , you brought too much attention to this issue," alleging that his garden had been recently inspected and seized by officials from the Department of Agriculture.

Well well, loose lips sink ships. A few members of the Dept. of Agriculture showed up and ripped it all out. They practically goose stepped in with jack boots. This is what I was left with. I was barred from my own property while they did their work, and now I have a cease and desist letter and a hefty fine.

On June 20th, Redditor submitted a photograph of a sit-down protest to /r/pics in a post titled "New Zealanders take to the streets to protest absurd gardening ban. Show them some solidarity," garnering 3,788 points (87% upvoted) and 674 comments (shown below). That same day, Redditor StampAct submitted a question about the alleged gardening laws in a /r/outoftheloop post titled "Is the New Zealand anti-gardening law real or not? Seriously I'm sick of this someone just tell me the truth."