Taupō couple Marty Hubbard and Debbie Littlewood used to grow thousands of lettuces - when markets dried up overnight, they had to make a change.
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
When New Zealand was plunged into its first nationwide lock-down, Marty and Debbie both lost their jobs and the thriving sideline business they'd spent years developing crashed overnight.
4,000 hydroponically grown lettuces eventually rotted and there was suddenly no market for their carefully grown microgreens.
"Our main income was the restaurants, so they weren't open, so there were no microgreens selling, no salads selling," Marty says. "We sold some to another guy who had an online store but 4000 lettuces is a lot to get rid of."
Debbie says other people have similar stories "but it takes the stuffing out of you a bit".
"We were really enjoying growing hydroponically, we were expanding, we had a massive outfit... for the local market it was big and we'd just got to the stage it was doing really well."
Like many other New Zealanders, the couple was forced to pivot.
"I hate that word," Debbie says smiling. "We had to think about what else we could do."
Now, they sell fruit and vegetables at a Taupō market twice a week, some picked up from Hawkes Bay and some sourced from Hamilton.
And they are back growing microgreens, on a smaller scale.
Restaurants are back in business but Marty says chefs are worried about over-stocking and getting stuck with excess produce.
"The one advantage we have got is that we're local... [The restaurants] just get a little bit at a time and away we go."
He says another bright spot, now that we are living with Covid in the community, is customers tell him they prefer to swing in and buy their vegetables at the outdoor market rather than go into a busy supermarket.
Marty Hubbard Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
