Even a summer of “terrible” weather hasn’t dampened Jenny Lux’s enthusiasm for her organic and regenerative market garden. Lux established her farm in Ngongotaha, a short drive north of Rotorua, in 2016. Today, she grows a “highly diverse” range of organic produce – from herbs and microgreens to tomatoes, chilies, silverbeet, and pumpkins.
Her concern about the heating planet also led the family business to regenerative farming techniques to maximize soil health so it can absorb greenhouse gas and store it out of harm’s way. Lux took a roundabout route into farming. As a young child, Lux lived on her grandfather’s sheep and beef farm, “the next road over” in Ngongotaha.
After university, The family purchased a one-hectare block that now supplies local cafes and restaurants and a Rotorua shop, Brown Owl. People can sign up to receive Lux Organics vege boxes during the summer when yields are higher.
Organic crops produce far less of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, per acre of land, than farms using synthetic fertilizer. At the same time, organic systems can produce lower yields – smaller pumpkins, for example. But one study published in the journal Scientific Reports found that, even taking yield into account, organic farming comes out ahead.
Read more at stuff.co.nz