All PFN ARTICLES

15 years after launching one of New Zealand’s most beloved plant-based brands, Little Island Creamery, the makers of dairy-free ice cream,

What’s needed is a bold, structured, sovereign-aligned trans-Tasman alliance: AgAlliANZ, a joint food future built not on competition, but on co-creation.

It started with lettuce. Now it’s flowers. Wonky Box New Zealand, the quirky produce disruptor known for rescuing twisted carrots and freakishly large parsnips, is turning its attention to the blooms we gift, grieve with, and guiltily forget to water. Emerge 'Wonky Flowers'!

The country’s leading grower of tropical plants and fruits, Exotica is fast becoming a poster child for weather-smart food innovation. Their secret? A mix of horticultural hustle, zero compromise on quality, and a product range reading like a tropical tasting tour for the senses: freeze-dried dragonfruit, botanical extracts, mango spice cubes, and a sugarcane juice so fresh it practically hums.

“Truth is, I didn’t like the taste of the fruit,” says Satish Kumar, Principal Scientist for Tree Crops at Plant & Food Research New Zealand (Shown left), with a smile. “And that gave me a challenge - could we improve it (the dragonfruit)”

Back in the 1870s, a Chinese immigrant named Chew Chong was foraging black fungi in Taranaki and shipping them by the tonne to China. (Depiction shown below) The fungus? Hakeke. Known to the rest of the world as Woodear mushroom. Today, more than a century later, New Zealand’s long-forgotten export hero is suddenly back in fashion, everywhere but in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

New Zealand’s next-gen meat future just scored a power-up and this time, it’s women calling the shots. Auckland-based biotech startup Opo Bio, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 honouree Olivia Ogilvie and University of Auckland scientist Laura Domigan, has secured funding from Epic Angels, Asia Pacific’s largest female-only angel investor collective.

Here’s a sentence we haven’t said in years: New Zealand just made a smart, future-focused science move. And it could actually pay off with huge bioeconomy returns.

Bean Supreme, one of New Zealand’s longest-standing plant-based pioneers, has officially thrown in the (soy-based) towel. Owner, Life Health Foods has confirmed production is winding down and the brand’s burgers, bangers and beloved mince will disappear from supermarket shelves by July.

What if New Zealand could out-milk the cow without a single udder in sight? That’s the promise Daisy Lab's just dropped, successfully pumping out multiple grams per litre of bioidentical bovine lactoferrin using nothing but yeast and a bit of fermentation finesse.

While the New Zealand economy takes a hammering and export sectors search for footing, the horticulture industry has quietly strapped on a jetpack and Auckland Airport is feeling the blast.

Off-Piste Provisions, one of New Zealand’s most daring plant-based ventures, has announced it’s pulling its signature meat-free jerky from s