Country Life

Meet a farmer who has developed a food supplement based on a protein extracted from green leaves and established North Canterbury's first commercial hop gardens.

Farmers Maury Leyland and John Penno have created a health food supplement based on protein extracted from leafy greens and in particular, locally grown lucerne (alfalfa).

Their company, Leaft Foods, is planning to bring the first products to market next year.

Leaft's team of scientists have developed a food-safe technology that extracts the protein, called rubisco, in a form that is highly digestible for people.

"We're nailing it at yields which are exciting and in a process which is highly circular," Maury said.

The protein is responsible for the process of photosynthesis and is considered to be the most abundant protein on earth.

Most people consume it when eating spinach, kale or other greens, but just not in the quantity that can be achieved following extraction and nutritional processing.

"We're aiming for the higher value uses," she said.

"So everything from high performance sport type applications to middle-aged women like me, who are looking to increase protein in their diet."

Lab results have demonstrated that the extracted leaf protein is as nutritionally viable as animal alternatives, while being easy for humans to digest and allergen-free.

This makes it a potential alternative to wheat and soy-based options.

The Leaft Foods headquarters in Rolleston is very close to the arable farmers who are contracted to grow the Lucerne, that's traditionally used as high energy feed for cattle and sheep.

"It's a highly productive, it's perennial, it fixes its own nitrogen and is deep rooted, so it's drought tolerant," Maury said.

The couple are hoping the extraction process will also provide a sustainable feed replacement on stock farms.

"We're going to be making a silage from the (leftover) fibre. It's protein reduced and macerated, so easy for an animal to digest and has better outcomes in terms of emissions."

Maury, who spent several years on the executive team at Fonterra and John, a co-founder of Synlait Milk, bought Okuroa Farms, a 700 hectares sheep and beef property in 2020.

Farm diversification based on climate change research was on their minds from the get go.

They planted North Canterbury's first commercial hop garden on seven hectares near the Hurunui River and a pip fruit orchard with 20 varieties of apples, pears and cherries…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Mark Tanner knows what people in China are consuming. He's the founder of China Skinny, a market research company based in Shanghai.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

It's Conservation Week! We meet a North Canterbury farmer rewilding his land and we check back in with the school children helping restore part of a South Wairarapa river.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"I've been farming on my own account for 52 years and cut down a fair share of trees, so now is my time to leave this place better than we found it," Chris Bolderston told Country Life.

For accompanying story and photos head here.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In Part 2 of a three part series, schoolchildren head to Waihinga Farm to plant saplings among ancient podocarps on the edge of the Ruamāhanga River.

Head here for accompanying story and photos.

Part 1 of the series on the Ruamāhanga Farm Foundation's plan to connect land, river and community can be found here

Find out more about the foundation.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

How do you stop birds colliding with New York's skyscrapers and how can New Zealand farmers benefit from birds and other wildlife? These are just some of the questions Sara Kross has been trying to answer from her lab at Canterbury University.

More information on research from Dr Sara Kross' team can be found at https://www.krosslab.org/ including research on bird collisions in New York.

Accompanying story and photos can be found here on the RNZ website.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week the Country Life team heads to a small-scale salt farm in Northland and meets a conservationist collecting endangered wildflowers.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

James Moore is up to his knees in the waves at Cable Bay in Northland, a bucket in each hand. He's a small-scale salt farmer, with a plan to help others into salt farming.

James Moore had the idea of farming salt while working as a postie after losing his importing business in the GFC. You can find him these days, bucket in hand, collecting seawater from Doubtless Bay in Northland and perfecting the design of evaporation pods built into his garden. He wants to help others into small-scale salt farming and a "pretty cool lifestyle".

For more check out: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018953454/a-sweet-life-farming-salt-just-a-man-and-his-bucket

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details