The new crop of NZ cropping success

The Cottrells are the first commercial growers of quinoa in New Zealand, creating great curiosity in their local farming community. After only two years, their entire first commercial crop was bought by Sabato, which distributes European fine foods and Kiwi-made products to restaurants around New Zealand.

" We knew we were onto a good thing once we saw it could grow on the farm soil."
Jacqui Cottrell, Agronomist & farmer

The idea first sprouted in 2011 when Dan and Jacqui were travelling through South America, far away from expectations and families.

On the road to Arequipa in the high altitude Altiplano plains between Peru and Bolivia, Dan noticed the terrain looked like the Desert Road back home.

Then, rounding a major quinoa growing area near Lake Titicaca, Dan had a light bulb moment. Could quinoa grow in the high altitude plains of Taihape in the gumboot capital of the world?

Up until then, returning to the farm had been a question mark for Dan, who studied agricultural commerce at Lincoln.

“It’s a pretty big thing coming from an intergenerational farm,” Dan says. “In Peru, looking out the bus window, seeing small Andean women farming with three llamas and taking it all in, I decided I was keen to give farming a crack.”

But it would be farming in a new way.

COOKING WITH QUINOA

Three Cheese, Salmon & Quinoa Tart

M E T H O D

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Preheat oven to 180° C. Grease and line a 23cm round spring-form cake tin with baking paper.

Place the quinoa and water in a small saucepan with the coriander, turmeric and cumin.

Bring to the boil, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Once the quinoa is cooked, rinse and strain. Set aside to cool.

Place the spinach leaves in a sieve or colander and pour boiled water over to lightly wilt the greens.

Spread out on paper towel or a clean tea towel to absorb excess moisture. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and cream and season well with salt and pepper.

Stir in the three cheeses, quinoa, spinach, garlic and lemon. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the tart is puffed and golden and no longer wobbly in the centre.

Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before removing.

Spread with cream cheese and your favourite topping, such as smoked salmon and dill, baked cauliflower or grilled zucchini.

Serves six.

Dan and Jacqui Cottrell

I N G R E D I E N T S

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1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

(for cooking quinoa)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cups spinach leaves

6 eggs

1 cup cream

250gm ricotta cheese

11 cups grated tasty cheese

3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 cloves crushed garlic

Zest (finely grated) of a lemon

Salt and pepper to season

T O S E R V E

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100gm cream cheese softened with a drizzle of cream

100gm smoked salmon or your favourite baked/grilled

vegetables.

Pioneers

Jacqui, an Australian native who studied agricultural science at Melbourne University, was excited about quinoa.

“As my background is in agronomy, I have a love of soil and plant science, and the link to human nutrition and health,” she says. “I thought it was a cool idea.”

Becoming pioneers - farming a South American grain in New Zealand - needed an incubation period and the couple went off to explore the ancient wonder of Machu Picchu.

After travelling they worked in rural New South Wales in Australia. While Dan was sowing wheat and canola crops he tossed around possibilities inside his John Deer tractor.

They also spent a lot of time online connecting with quinoa growers around the world and eventually found a good breeder in France.

“We asked if we could trial some and he sent little packets over so we could test four different varieties,” Dan says.

As the couple was in Australia it was Dan’s father who initially sowed quinoa seed on the family soil in Taihape.

“He did a lot of work for us, so did Mum, and slowly got on board with the idea,” Dan says.  

When Dan and Jacqui returned to New Zealand they had a result from the trials: two varieties worked and two tanked.

“We knew we were onto a good thing once we saw it could grow on the farm soil,” Jacqui says.

The farmers initially planted three hectares of the most successful variety. Once they harvested the first year it was enough to sow 20 hectares. They hope to double their harvest next year.

Breaking new ground always comes with problems to solve. Quinoa is harvested in the same way a crop of wheat or barley is, using machinery to gather the heads, which means everything else gets harvested including weeds.

Dan and Jacqui wanted to grow their quinoa naturally, without sprays, herbicides or chemicals, which meant weeds were rife.

“Nobody wants a weed head in their quinoa, you have to get the cleaning nailed 99.99 percent,” says Dan. “The first year we harvested it by hand which was a nightmarish job, so we knew we had to find somebody to clean it for us.”

They approached seed cleaning company Valhallar Seeds, based in Palmerston North, who has worked previously with imported quinoa.

Jacqui was adamant they did not want to resort to using chemicals. “We’re quite proud of what we do. We’re farming it pretty organically,” she says.

Now Valhallar does all the cleaning, drying, certifying and packaging for Kiwi Quinoa, and is a huge stakeholder in the business.

As for the neighbours, the farming community has been curious about the young couple.

It’s all sheep and cattle around here,” says Dan. “We often hear, ‘my wife loves it and I didn’t know what it was, it’s not that bad!’”

They have had farmers ringing up wanting to grow the grain for them. It is early days but Dan thinks the tonnage they can achieve “will make it a viable crop for New Zealand. All farmers want to look at diversifying, and new ideas.”

Exports

Exporting to Asia and Australia is in the long-term plan, after they “get their teeth into the domestic space, dealing with restaurant trade, food service and supermarkets.”

Dan believes there is a huge opportunity with quinoa as grain is relatively straightforward to export.

Recently, banks in Australasia have been looking into quinoa as an emerging commodity, scoping it on a large scale. Dan has already had calls from China and Singapore. “It’s not a fly by nighter,” he says.

Quinoa has certainly gone past its fad stage and is becoming a staple as the demand for gluten-free grains and good vegan options increase globally.

“As quinoa’s got all of the essential amino acids, it’s a complete protein,” says Jacqui. “There’s not many of those around: chia seeds and buckwheat are the only others.” You can’t argue with quinoa’s nutritional profile. Plus the grain is easy to cook.

Jacqui originally introduced Dan to the slightly nutty taste of the ancient grain in a creamy chicken and mushroom stir-fry.

“She’s into her health food and I’d never even heard of it,” says Dan. “I was a meat and potato guy so this was all pretty exciting.”

Now they cook with quinoa all the time and have recipes on their site including Jacqui’s Chilli Con Quinoa and Dan’s Fried Chicken: quinoa coated chicken tenderloin lightly fried and served with salsa.

Chefs around the country are also taking to it. “They’re doing interesting things like sprouting it and treating it like a risotto,” says Jacqui. “People are so pumped that it’s local.”

Their quinoa has been adopted far faster than they expected. “We thought the marketing would be the most challenging but it’s been a really good head start getting in with Sabato,” Jacqui says.

Kiwis may be taking to quinoa everywhere but can they say it properly? Dan and Jacqui are sticking with the South American pronunciation of “Keenwar” instead of the more European “KwiNoah” but just like taking over the family farm, apparently there are no rules.

Angela Barnett is a contributing editor at BlueNotes