Demand for Wheatbelt-grown saline foods up 400% as restaurants and chefs up orders

Demand for WA-grown native saline bush foods is booming, with a Great Southern farmer ramping up plantings to meet an even bigger “spike” anticipated come spring. It could mean by this time next year, more WA farmers will be entering the supply chain of the blossoming industry. Sales for the produce — which plummeted last year as restaurants across the country were forced to shut during coronavirus lockdowns — are up more than 400 per cent this quarter compared to the first quarter of 2019 nationally. In Perth alone, there has been a mammoth 250 per cent surge in sales since September. It comes as “terrific news” to Badgebup farmer David Thompson and gourmet food supplier Lance McLeod, who founded their native food enterprise Moojepin Foods in 2017. “COVID-19 gave us a chance to reset and rethink,” Mr McLeod said. “Because we stopped harvesting we put a lot of effort into bringing new varieties in and it’s starting to pay off now. “Instead of four products we went to nine and I think that has helped with our brand as we have more to offer. The pair — who supply saltbush, samphire, karkalla (pigface), sea purslane, ice-plant and a number of native herbs to wholesalers and chefs across the country — are hoping to double, if not triple their production to meet the fierce interest, which is expected to “spike” in a couple of months. “We should see a spike in spring-summer when people make their menus,” Mr McLeod said. “We’re really focusing on trying to educate people on how our saltbush is different.” He said major orders were also rolling in ahead of NAIDOC Week, which starts on July 4. However, he said they were “taking their foot off the accelerator” through winter to ensure they did not overcommit themselves and end up with too much demand for them to supply. But once the season turns, they will be firing the engines back up with gusto. Fierce interest in the blossoming industry has seen their enterprise grow exponentially, with two pickers and two packers now on the books, as well as a new set of wheels — a refrigerated truck — on the road to keep the orders fresh. And there should be plenty to harvest, with Mr Thompson bumping up plantings in February. He is now growing some 3300 iceplants, 850 karkalla, 500 sea purslane and recently, 50 sea blight in the two purpose-built greenhouses on his property east of Katanning. He also grows about 25,000 seakiss saltbush plants and hoped to establish a 2000-plant strong plantation of sea blight outside of the greenhouse. “If we can triple the saltbush, that’s where the biggest opportunity lies,” Mr Thompson said. “Because we have so much of it, we could triple or supply 10 times as much and we’d still have enough plants.” Both men said their focus and challenge was ensuring their saltbush was marketed as a different, less bitter variety to others on the market. “All of the other varieties I’m aware of are old man’s saltbush, which has a bitter — some call it peppery — after-taste,” Mr Thompson said. “Our variety (seakiss) is the only one we know of that doesn’t have that.” Expansion plans to build a third greenhouse are on ice, with wait times for the hydroponic bags needed to plant the extra plants sitting at more than eight weeks due to COVID-19-induced shipping delays. However, construction of a Katanning-based packing shed is set to wrap up by the end of the year. The venture is part of a four-year research project with Katanning Landcare to investigate ways for farmers to increase agricultural production on degraded salt-affected land on their properties. Mr McLeod previously dubbed it “the dream” for more farmers to get on board to enable them to form a co-op which could produce higher and consistent volumes for the national — and potentially international — markets. It is a vision they are already working towards, Katanning Landcare officer Ella Maesepp said, with forward projections being worked on to determine just how many growers the market needs. “We don’t want people to try and fail because they’ve gone too early,” she said. “We’ll have an intensive program with an in-person training event and we’ll put together an instruction manual, so people can go and enter the supply chain with a system that will make sure everyone is producing consistent and high-quality produce. And have it operating in a way that is fair for everyone.” The program’s release will coincide with the results of an environmental study looking at the soil health of the degraded land and how that has changed since the program began, which Ms Measepp was hopeful would be positive. “Standing in the paddock now, knowing what it looked like 4-5 years ago, it just looks healthier,” she said.