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Growing up, market gardening was not the career path one Canterbury grower thought he would head down; however, it has proven successful both inside and outside the farm gates.
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Allen Lim is the owner of Jade Garden, a vegetable growing business in Central Canterbury.
Mr Lim grew up in Oamaru, where his parents were market gardeners. He then went on to study mechanical engineering at Canterbury University and then worked for three years at the Honda Assembly plant in Nelson.
His then girlfriend (and now wife) Joanna got a job in Wellington as a lawyer. Mr Lim followed her and worked as part of a mining venture, giving him a taste of running his own business.
The pair then went travelling before returning to New Zealand. They decided to settle in Christchurch to be near family where they purchased a 10 hectare block between Rolleston and Lincoln, which spurred the beginning of Mr Lim’s market gardening career.
“I thought market gardening and vegetable growing was simple, but it definitely wasn’t, especially when you’re trying to meet market demand at a large scale with continuity of supply.
His business, called Jade Garden, began in 2003 and has since grown from 10 hectares to 110, and grows a wide range of vegetables all year round.
Mr Lim said in Chinese culture being a market gardener was seen as a low status occupation.
“In the early days, my parents and especially my late Grandma used to think I wasted my education and were a bit disappointed … however seeing that my knowledge in engineering was transferable to vegetable growing, and now that they can see I have capable staff helping me – they fully approve. ”
Mr Lim started with Shanghai Pak Choy, also known as Bok Choy. At the same time of starting his business he and his wife were also starting a family and he said it meant a lot of working in the dark.
“I remember one time being out around midnight in the middle of winter with my head lamp on cutting Pak Choy, it was so cold the plants started to freeze and they were so hard to cut … those days are a good reminder of how far we’ve come and how hard it can be to start your own business.”
“One of the reasons I wanted to get into it was for the flexibility so I could spend time with my family.”
Mr Lim soon realised he needed a staff member and planted more vegetables to accommodate for a full-time role, he soon needed a second member and as he increased his range of vegetables so did his staff numbers.
He grew common crops such as cabbages, leeks, spring onions to more unusual ones such as globe artichokes, khol rabi and daikons.
As well as expanding his growing land around Lincoln and Rolleston, in 2018 Mr Lim took over a cucumber farm in North Canterbury with business partner Robert Lindsay.
Between the two businesses 30 staff were employed and more in the summer period.
He got great satisfaction from seeing good
