YOUR INDUSTRY
SMALL BUT MIGHTY: LOCAL MICROGREENS OPERATION TAKES OFF Words by Mike Nichols
Matthew Keltie and his market garden
In the centre of Wellington sits an intensive market garden, supplying fresh vegetables to many high-end restaurants and several supermarkets in our capital city. There are no tractors visible. None are required because the whole operation occurs in the basement of a large building. The venture, named 26 Seasons (previously ShootsNZ), is the brainchild of a former Lands and Survey agronomist, Matthew Keltie, who saw a gap in the market and decided to fill it. “We saw the opportunity to present to the market a unique product in all aspects, taste, appearance, nutrient profile,” Matthew says. “We also wanted the product to bring about a new consumer experience where the customer was purchasing a living product that they were able to harvest on demand at home.” The company currently grows 23 types of microgreens: Amaranth red, basil, broccoli, coriander, kale, lemon balm, mustard, red mizuna, nasturtium, snow peas, oyster plant, radish, shiso, sorrel, curly cress, chia, pak choi, dill, wheat grass, chives, fennel, pea shoots and lettuce. They also grow microgreen mixes for supermarkets – two or three different plants for different occasions, including a micro salad mix, a smoothie mix and a sandwich mix. 36 NZGROWER : DECEMBER 2021
It is not a potential crop to export, says Matthew, as the microgreens industry is invested in the product being fresh and locally grown. What are microgreens? They have been defined by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) as edible greens which germinate from seeds and are harvested without roots at the seedling stage when the cotyledons are fully expanded. These very young seedlings have a more intense and different flavour profile than their mature plant counterparts. While microgreens were not designed to feed the world, they do provide a high level of nutrition – up to 100 times more nutrition than mature plants, in fact. Much of the growth is derived directly from the stored food in the seed, although there is some accumulation of dry matter in the seedlings before they are harvested. This is because the plants are grown under LED (light-emitting diode) lighting with an emphasis on red and blue light at a 4:1 ratio. A small amount of white light is also provided. Many of the flavours developing in the young seedlings can be further enhanced by using specific wavelengths of light, but this can only be determined with a detailed knowledge of how specific species respond to a particular wavelength. 26 Seasons uses a combination of vertical growing and LED technology to grow its microgreens in a more efficient, controlled environment. “Through trial and error, we discovered that the growth
