After a long and arduous journey through global pandemics, MIQ issues, freight delays, Covid and terrible weather, they’ve managed to overcome adversity, and reach a key milestone at their covered greenhouse.
Back in May, they had completed most of their smaller greenhouse and started to turn their attention to revitalising the soil after a couple of years of construction.
They used a combination of covered crops, compose and turning the soil, to get it back into a healthy state for planting.
They’ve also been using all the specialist equipment they’ve built into the greenhouse including the water storage, treatment and overhead irrigation system, and their new vent system.
After a couple of months of trial crops, tweaks and adjustments they’ve now successfully planted, harvested and packed their very first commercial spinach fully grown in their mega greenhouse.
LeaderBrand’s aim is to continue to grow a more consistent crop supply that will ultimately ensure that they can keep feeding New Zealand with healthy, tasty fresh vegetables at more consistent prices.
The first trails have already shown the team that farming undercover will be a massive change to the way LeaderBrand currently farms but they think that this style of farming will be the way of the future.
The team aims to keep exploring more technology and exploring more ways to farm more sustainably.