About

Donald Nordeng is a policy analyst and consultant specialising in organic agriculture, sustainable food systems, and agricultural trade regulation. Based in Wellington, he brings more than three decades of service to the organic sector across New Zealand and Asia.

As Chief Executive of BioGro New Zealand for over a decade, Donald led New Zealand’s largest organic certification organisation through a period of significant growth, from 450 to more than 900 certified operators, and was a central figure in the sector’s engagement with the Organic Products and Production Act 2023, New Zealand’s first organic legislation. He served on the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Organic Sector Advisory Council (OSAC) during this period, contributing directly to the development of the National Organic Standard.

Before BioGro, Donald spent 26 years working in Japan, where he led the Japanese subsidiaries of three international organic companies: as co-founder and Managing Director of QAI Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of Quality Assurance International, Inc. of San Diego, California; as Managing Director of Ecocert Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of Ecocert SA of L’Isle-Jourdain, France; and as Chief Executive of Daabon Organic Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of Grupo Daabon of Santa Marta, Colombia. In these roles he built deep expertise in organic certification, market access, and sustainable agricultural trade across the Asia-Pacific region, and contributed directly to the development of Japan’s JAS organic standard.

In 2026, Donald published two research papers: a synthesis of the published evidence base for organic agriculture’s systematic advantages in New Zealand, and a cross-government policy landscape analysis identifying the policy instruments across seven agencies that require updating following the OPPA 2023.

He is currently Chair of the Organic Exporters Association of New Zealand, a member of the Institute of Directors, and holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Anaheim University.