Aotearoa Grown began with a bold vision: to positively respond to climate change and grow healthy nutritionally dense tropical fruits in Aotearoa New Zealand. We wanted to share our delicious fresh fruit, and also transform the fruit into healthy dietary supplements to support and nourish wellbeing.
From our orchards in Waipu, Northland, we grow nutrient-dense crops like tropical papaya, bananas, pineapples, and other botanicals — spray-free, soil-friendly, and with a light footprint.
Our subtropical microclimate, sandy peat soils, and coastal breezes provide the perfect conditions for growing fruit with exceptional flavour and potency.
We’re more than growers — we’re regenerative producers and wellness innovators. Every harvest is handled with care and purpose, supporting a circular economy and offering clean-label ingredients that fuel gut health, immunity, and vitality.
Whether it’s a bowl full of fresh fruit, a freeze-dried powder in your smoothie or a health supporting supplement, you can trust that it came from our hands — grown under New Zealand skies, with purpose, integrity, and care.
Aotearoa Grown is for those who believe food should work with your body, not against it. Who care where their food and wellness ingredients come from. And who want to be part of a story that honours the land as much as the science.
What We Grow
We believe that food is more than sustenance — it’s medicine, it’s culture, and it’s connection. We started Aotearoa Grown to create a local, traceable alternative to imported wellness ingredients, using plants with powerful science behind them.
Our Goals
- To grow the best nutrient dense fresh tropical fruits in Aotearoa.
- To turn New Zealand-grown tropical fruit into premium powders, extracts, and functional supplements, while ensuring our land and communities thrive.
We grow more than 70 varieties of subtropical fruit. Our focus is on tropical papaya, alongside different varieties of bananas, pineapples, passionfruit, chocolate sapote, mango, sugar cane, dragonfruit, jackfruit, guavas, cherimoya, casimiroa, tamarillos, starfruit and more.
Our Soil to Your Spoon
Whether it’s a bowl full of fresh fruit, a freeze-dried powder in your smoothie or a health supporting supplement, you can trust that it came from our hands — grown under New Zealand skies, with purpose, integrity, and care.
Aotearoa Grown is for those who believe food should work with your body, not against it. Who care where their food and wellness ingredients come from. And who want to be part of a story that honours the land as much as the science.
We love experimenting with what’s possible, and seeing what can grow here for us to share with you. We believe in learning from nature, and we don’t grow in isolation. At Aotearoa Grown, we nurture diversity at every level: in our soil biology, our plantings, our whole ecosystem.
Sustainability
We grow our subtropical fruit trees in interdependent, biodiverse plant communities that mimic natural forest ecosystems. Our orchards are planted closely and intentionally, allowing for shade, wind protection, and shared soil nutrients — just as trees would grow in nature.
This forest-style approach:
- Supports soil moisture retention and fungal networks
- Reduces the need for synthetic inputs
- Enhances natural resilience to pests and disease
- Encourages carbon capture, pollinator habitat, and bird life
- Allows us to grow multiple species side-by-side so they can shelter, protect and encourage each other.
The result is not just higher-quality fruit, but a living system that gives back more than it takes.
We have our hands in the soil, on our trees and on our fruit at every step of their planting, growth, harvest and packing. We love what we do, and we do it with care and aroha.
We believe in careful nurturing of natural resources, and grow in ways that respect our land and our place.
Sustainability is woven into everything we do:
We believe in the benefits of forest-mimicking agroecology – diversity-first, low-intervention growing systems.
We have invested in a solar power system, which powers our delivery vehicle, and farm vehicle.
We have a soil-first approach — we build soil health and biodiversity every season. We grow our own biomass, and upcycle our waste.
We’re spray free — no herbicides or pesticides on our fruit.
Sara & Andrew
Northland has had a very special place in our family life, from when we first came here camping with our little kids. We found a block of land, and started experimenting with what we could grow — healthy, nutrient dense food that would cope with the changing climate. We committed to growing in ways that supported sustainability, biodiversity and a light footprint on the whenua. From this, the seed for Aotearoa Grown was born.
We planted our first large scale mixed banana and other fruits experimental orchard in 2018, and our covered cropping structures shortly after that. We now grow more than 70 varieties of tropical fruits, over more than 2 hectares, incorporating both outdoor and covered cropping environments.
We have come from careers built on curiosity, innovation, learning and adaptability, as well as a strong interest in health and social impact. This is the perfect background to develop Aotearoa’s largest and diverse tropical fruit orchards. We’re not saying it was a straight career path, but it’s certainly an interesting one!
Dr Andrew Withell started his professional career as an industrial designer, and moved into academia and management, most recently as Head of the Art and Design School at AUT. Dr Sara Bennett worked in the public health and social business sectors, and focused on mental health and wellbeing, as well as supporting for-good businesses.
Together, this has resulted in an optimistic team approach to innovation, adaptability and problem solving. We believe in nutrient dense, well-grown food as a fundamental part of health and wellbeing, and are continuously intrigued by the potential of tropical fruits.
We continue to work to bring our scientific curiosity to our farming work, and work in collaboration with scientific partners to understand more about the macro and micronutrients in our fruits, and their benefits for health and wellbeing. We are particularly focused on supporting gut health and the links between the gut and brain biomes.
We are committed to growing in ways that align with our values – taking care of the whenua, listening and learning from the land, keeping a light footprint.
Come and Find Us
In the spring and summer, come and see us:
Grey Lynn Farmers Market
- Sunday mornings, 8:30am - 12pm
- Grey Lynn Community Centre,
510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn
Follow us on FB and IG to see when we’re there, and what we’re bringing each week.
Origin Northland
Find our fresh produce and products at Origin Northland, Waipu.
