Demand for Asian greens up by nearly 400 pc in recent years - Grower

Workers harvesting Asian greens. Photo / Supplied - Woodhaven Gardens

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

A Levin vegetable grower says demand for Asian greens has increased by nearly 400 per cent in the last couple of years.

Woodhaven Gardens has grown some Asian greens for about 20 years but ramped up plantings four years ago after seeing growing demand in the market.

Company director Jay Clarke said they grew Shanghai bok choi, pak choi, wombok or Chinese cabbage, Saigon turnip and coriander.

"We started with some trials and things have really taken off, we've seen some of our traditional lines coming back in volume and becoming less popular things like green cabbage and iceberg lettuce but the shanghai bok choi, wombok and Saigon turnip have really grown in popularity," Clarke said.

"In the last two to three years we've seen growth of between 300 and 400 per cent in those lines."

Clarke believed the growth in demand is being driven by New Zealanders trying new foods and expanding their culinary expertise.

"People are going out there experiencing different foods when they're eating out and then they're bringing those culinary choices into their own home.

"With access to the internet and online cooking shows and even programmes like My Food Bag and HelloFresh - they're putting different recipes into New Zealand households - so people are exploring more and finding that there are ways to eat fresh, healthy vegetables and tasty dishes that are a little bit different from what we've traditionally done in New Zealand."

Growing Asian greens did come with difficulties, as caterpillars loved to eat them as much as consumers, Clarke said.

"Pest control can be a little problematic but other than that they are fun crops to grow, they're quite handy for us because we can direct-drill them rather than transplant, so there's a step in the process that we don't have to go through that we do with things like lettuce and broccoli, so they're efficient vegetables to grow."

- RNZ