For more than five years, Wholegrain Organics had a commercial kitchen, bread bakery, café, and retail outlet on The Square in Palmerston North, and its team ran food technology and hospitality classes at local schools, under the Hands-On Food banner.
It was underpinned by a big philanthropic vision of serving people and planet, but the operation had become a complex, sprawling operation. By mid-2022, it was fragmented and financially unsustainable – some hard choices were required of founders Naomi and Rob Hall.
“We had a tree with 10 branches, but it was not financially viable,” explains Naomi. “We pruned off eight of the branches and left the two that we saw as foundational, where we can make the greatest difference. The farm is our number one priority – it’s pioneering work, a research farm that shares what we learn. The online shop is the connecting link between the farm and the rest of the world.”
A year on, Live2Give Organics grows vegetables on leased farmland in Aokautere, just south of Palmerston North. Their innovative farming methods produce