Rangiriri Model Farm

In February 2006 NZ Fresh Cuts (NZFC) took over the day to day management of the company’s previously contract-managed 80-hectare farm in Rangiriri, south of Auckland, and developed it into a model farm based on the best farming systems worldwide.

Our model farm produces a large percentage of our baby leaf requirements and was specifically set up to enable NZFC to meet consistently high standards in food safety. It does this by enabling us to control the growing of the majority of our baby leaf requirements and by providing a model for our contract farmers to base their own operations on.

Our whole operation is specifically designed to grow baby leaf produce and is one of the largest dedicated baby leaf growing operations in Australasia. The baby leaf crops we grow include:

• Asian Brassicas (Mizuna, Tatsoi, Mibuna, Mustard)
• Red Beets and Chards
• Spinach (Green and Red)
• Wild Rocket (Arugula)
• Lettuce (Lollo Rosso, Lollo Biondi, Tango Type, Green and Red Batavia, Green and Red Romaine, Green and Red Oak, Iceberg)

In keeping with our company commitment to stay at the forefront of international best practice and trends, our state-of- the-art growing and harvesting systems are based on the leading farming systems used in the Salinas Valley in the USA and by Vitacress Salads in the UK. We implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and bio-rational farming practices and have a robust EUREPGAP food safety system that underpins everything that we do.

To further guard against the contamination of our mechanical harvested crops, we operate a closed loop system with our packing crates to make sure they never touch the ground at any time during the mechanical harvesting process at our Rangiriri farm. Sterilised crates arrive at the farm from the factory each morning and are hoisted onto our dual-purpose harvester and transport trailer, filled, and then transported straight to our processing plant – where the produce is vacuum cooled as soon as it arrives.

Our under three-hour turnaround from farm to factory is aided by a series of technological and process innovations that have been especially selected to streamline our harvesting processes and eliminate any double handling. The machine that really sets us apart is our large capacity Morrish harvester, which was custom-built for us in the UK and is the first of its kind in Australasia. Capable of harvesting over 2-ton of produce per hour, our Morrish harvester incorporates a special shaker belt that removes contaminants from the newly picked produce and a large 2-metre bed that helps maximise our capacity and efficiency. The wide wheel spacing also contributes to the sustainability of our soils by reducing the amount of ground that gets compacted through harvesting.