An asparagus grower who lost more than half his crop amid a spate of bad weather in Canterbury is keeping his head above water thanks to a new side hustle with the long green vegetable.
While harvest was well underway, Dave Marsh told 1News that October was a difficult month.
"It started off a bit wet and cold, and then the winds were really just horrendous," he said.
The wild weather left the Ashburton grower with four of his seven hectares ruined.
"I had to chop everything off because it was all twisted and bent, and not saleable. When you chop it off you basically lose a week’s worth of production."
With overheads and production costs constantly rising, he’d been thinking of doing something new with his crop – and found the perfect market for the asparagus that didn’t make the grade.
"Sometimes it flicks around on the belt and gets the head cut off or it’s short or it’s fat or it’s bent or it’s seedy – all that sort of stuff that has no commercial value in the shops."
Marsh has now created a freeze-dried snack food and taken it to market, winning three silver awards at the New Zealand Artisan Food Awards.
"It gives us something different. It’s a healthy product, it’s not cooked, it’s 100% natural – the nutrients are all in it that asparagus is well known for."
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