We believe LeaderBrand produce is a cut above the rest. Here’s how we bring the freshest, tastiest produce from our farms straight to your table every day.

Planning for the long-haul

First, we plan how many crops to plant and where they’ll grow best. We don’t demand too much from the land or plot more space than we need. Instead, we work closely with our customers to predict what’s needed and how to produce it sustainably, leaving nothing to chance.

careful seeding & germination

We begin by hand-selecting the highest quality seeds and making sure they’re tough enough for our climate. Then, we let them germinate in a greenhouse away from the elements, and finally move them out into the open to hard off ready for planting.

Our broccoli and lettuce germinate for six to eight weeks at our Gisborne and Chertsey nurseries, while our other crops like corn and asparagus are ready to be planted directly into the soil.

Healthy soil, quality results

When it comes to growing top-quality crops, preparing the land is as important as planting.

We make sure all the ground work is done which loads the soil with nutrients before planting our seeds or seedlings, using tractors with GPS capability to make sure nothing to left to chance.

growing OUR PRODUCE

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, and the growing stage is no exception.

We grow our produce in permanent beds, rotating crops regularly to keep the land healthy and limit the environmental impact. Because we’ve got farms all over Aotearoa, we make sure each and every crop is grown in the climate that suits it best.

Harvesting how we see fit

Once they’re fully grown, we harvest larger crops like corn, lettuce and broccoli by hand, and our salad leaf crops are machine harvested. It’s our way of harnessing the best of both worlds to ensure our produce is the best
possible quality.

COOLING to lock in freshness

As soon as we’ve harvested it, all our produce is immediately cooled to seal in the good stuff and make sure it stays fresh when it hits the shelves.

When that’s done and dusted, our produce is delivered off to supermarkets and stores across New Zealand, or to our salad house for processing.

world-class processing

Our dedicated salad house runs around the clock seven days a week prepping, double-washing, drying and bagging for households up and down New Zealand, and produces hundreds of thousands of bags a week.

The salad house is also where we make use of our state-of-the-art drying technology to remove any moisture from all of our produce to help it stay fresher for longer.

And off it goes!

When everything’s packed and ready to go, we send it off daily to be sold in stores all around the country.

Often the produce we harvest hits supermarket shelves the very next day, keeping every vegetable as fresh and tasty as can be.

time to plate up

And there you have it – produce from our garden gate to your dinner plate!

From here, food-lovers around New Zealand make our delicious produce their own by crunching, chopping and cooking up a storm.

From family feasts that fill bellies with the good stuff, to quick snacks and salads, there’s no end to the tasty creations you can make with LeaderBrand vegetables.