MATTHEW KELTIE 26 Seasons

Matthew Keltie, co-founder of 26 Seasons, used to work as a corporate farmer based in Wellington. One day, Keltie was reading the paper when he saw a story about a vertical garden that could grow up against the wall in an office, out the back of the home, or wherever a person could want. This concept resonated with Keltie.

"Food production in New Zealand is a bit further than posted wires and battens and, and lands, and we have to think out a bit further outside of square about how we produce food going forward," said Keltie.

Along with his co-founder, Keltie set up a similar gardening system in a garage. Later, the pair tried the concept at a small town site and built a prototype system where they could supply a few local restaurants, enabling them to create a proof of concept.

Keltie began with leafy and micro greens, then leapt into growing strawberries, which he described as a nice challenge. The pair grew 1000 plants the first year around. He admitted doing everything wrong last year at 26 Seasons' current site in Foxton. However, it has grown 8000 to 14000 plants this year, with 50,000 plants total.

The choice to grow strawberries was strategic, with leafy greens being a popular product to grow both within a vertical farming environment and through traditional farming methods, creating a competitive market where many are trying to sell the same product to restaurants, supermarkets, and customers. Strawberries were a product with a high-demand market with lower supply, given their seasonality. Offering the seasonal berry to New Zealanders year-round to avoid relying on imports was an excellent opportunity for Keltie and his co-founder to work on providing a solution.

"What we're aiming for is the route of season market so that we want New Zealanders to have access to fresh and high-quality strawberries during the middle of winter instead of them, you know, as an option to the fruit that comes in from a from Australia that's flying over."

Keltie continued that making the berry readily available would also reduce the carbon footprint of imports and ensure quality.

Much of what Keltie does through the controlled environment agriculture method of farming naturally falls into mitigating the environmental footprint of farming.

Having spent quite a bit of time dealing with dairy farmers and sheep farms and dealing with fertiliser, Keltie explained that through the alternative farming method, the systems are selfcontained, so there are fewer chances of waste, as they are climate controlled and therefore not at the mercy of wind affecting the spread of fertiliser, or with soil experiencing nutrient loss and sediment flows as a result of the weather and outdoor environment. The most significant carbon footprint of controlled environment agriculture is energy use. Keltie said this footprint could be mitigated using renewable resources, including solar panels and light timers, so electricity is used at off-peak times.

Strawberries are the central focus of 26 Seasons. Keltie is determined to get this right, as perfecting this and being a financially viable business is imperative. The company is building a laboratory allowing Keltie to perform quick iterations to achieve this. The focus will be to ensure that different aspects of the primary growth system can be tested to ensure their methods are correct. Only after this has been achieved would Keltie consider growing other berry types.

New Zealand's traditional farming methods are not something that will be replaced by controlled environment agriculture, with Keltie stating that the central production system in New Zealand would continue to be on the land, with apple trees grown in the outdoor soil, under the elements, demonstrating the strength of New Zealand's natural capital of generally good soil and climate.

However, Keltie continued that when evaluating recent global events, extreme weather, and food insecurity, New Zealand's position is incredibly isolated compared to continents such as Europe, where a supply system spanning numerous countries is easy and accessible.

"So now when we look at COVID, even the effects of the Ukraine situation, there'll be a little bit of a reliance on us being able to look after ourselves domestically. So there may be an option there for vertical farming. Or indoor farming or controlled environment agriculture."

Keltie said there were many solutions New Zealand would have to find to complex, ongoing, and arising issues where there is no simple fix or solution.

Given these thoughts, Keltie added that 26 Seasons was not looking to export its strawberries as it defeats the purpose of the business philosophy. Instead, once Keltie has customised components of its controlled environment agriculture growing, the systems Keltie creates and uses would be shared globally and available to be set up offshore.

26 Seasons has already connected with potential clients in Asia and the Gulf States who have shared interest in these farming solutions. These solutions will be a collaborative effort. Keltie said they are trying to take as many New Zealand companies along with 26 Seasons, as many components and technology from others will need to be brought together to create this farming solution.

"We would like to be able to make it a valuable exercise for ourselves and our partners."

On the day-to-day, Keltie spends part of his week at the Foxton, where he praised the team's work and said that watching the site's growth was one of the most satisfying aspects of his work, as well as watching his team's enjoyment in growing strawberries, with 26 Seasons' philosophy revolving around learning fast and failing fast. This philosophy was built on keeping expenditures low and creating a simple solution for a complex problem.

"We've got some brilliant people with science backgrounds, and, you know, we're a nation of farmers anyway. So, we work hard at understanding cause and consequence, which is about under, you know, diagnosing the bottlenecks and the failures and looking for improvements in the business."

Day one for 26 Seasons was challenging for the business, with some steep learnings.

However, Keltie said the team had brought it together in the last two years. The odd silly mistake is still made, meaning the team has to go back and rebuild certain aspects of the systems, but the impact has come along leaps and bounds.

The best season that the company has had is its current one, with this being year three of the business's history, Keltie explained that they would continue to learn about controlled environment agriculture for the next 20 to 50 years.

For years to come, Keltie wants 26 Seasons to be a profitable company with a brand centred on its values, where people enjoy coming to and working.

"We want to be seen as a provider of high quality and fresh, fresh strawberries at this stage and then a company that's seen as a valuable partner to our partners that allows us to collectively grow and go offshore and be proud New Zealand business."