In celebration of National Kale Day, at www.freshfruitportal.com we decided to get a better understanding of this superfood which has taken the country by storm in recent years. Two Californian growers gave their perspectives from the nation's kale capital about the crop's future, and pressing issues the industry must address.

The leafy green vegetable called kale has exploded onto the market in recent years and its popularity only continues to grow.

Salinas-based Church Brothers has been growing the larger green kale variety for a long time now, but is currently undergoing a significant expansion of its acreage for the smaller tender leaf varieties - also know as baby kale - to keep up with demand. 

"Demand is really on the upswing - we're 175% bigger than last year and I reckon it will be the same for this upcoming season too," said Church Brothers partner and tender leaf grower Tim McAfee.

The company harvests around 25 acres of tender leaf kale each week, with a further 15 acres of the bigger kale. The vegetable can be cultivated throughout the year, albeit at a slower speed during winter months.

Along with the wide array of nutritional properties - including high levels of vitamin K and Omega 3 - that have spurred on the popularity, kale also boasts a plethora of uses, ranging from juices to chips, and even edible arrangements.

On the farmland, kale is first cut about two inches from the base and sold in bags at retail due to its good appearance. After the first lot is cut, a second and less aesthetically pleasing batch grows which is almost entirely sold for juicing.

"Almost 100% of our kale gets harvested for freezing or juicing, so we cut it for fresh market when it looks good and then we regrow it and all that kale goes to juice or the freezer," McAfee said.

'It's going to stay'

Church Brothers CEO Steve Church said the vegetable had proven very popular as a decorative item, with spikes of demand during certain seasonal holidays throughout the year.

"The juicing part of kale is huge, but the edible arrangements are also a big thing," Church said.

"They're very seasonable, so you'll get a whole bunch of orders for Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or Mothers' day, or Easter and you're kind of flat the rest of the time because it's a big seasonal deal."

Along with its versatility, kale also comes in a large number of varieties and colors which would have only helped to broaden its appeal and customer base.

"They're all fairly popular - just some prefer the green, some prefer the red. There's a black kale which is probably the most popular, so it's kind of customer-specific," McAfee said.

"We pack a trio that has green, black and red kale in it and that has been very popular."

Although the sudden soaring demand and varietal range may sound like a blessing for producers, they do not come without their pitfalls. Sourcing kale seeds seems to be the foremost challenge for the industry, as seed companies struggle to keep up with the requests.

"The biggest problem with the kale is getting the seeds these days and the right varieties of kale. Demand has increased so rapidly that we're having a hard time keeping up with the varieties that we want to grow, " McAfee said.

Church Brothers grows four or five varieties of baby leaf kale, with several more of the larger varieties.

Despite the issues relating to seeds, Church was confident the kale industry was by no means slowing down anytime soon.

"I think it's going to stay," Church said.

"I don't know if you're going to have 175% growth, but it's still growing."

Media explosion

A representative of another California-based grower, Babe Farms, echoed Church's comments but highlighted increased competition was driving down prices.

"We saw great growth in 2012 and 2013, but with the popularity in 2014 we saw everybody started growing kale," said marketing representative Ande Manos.

"So we've been selling pretty steadily, but with the competition our sales have gone down a little bit, but there's still a fair demand for it; it's just the fact that there are a lot more growers involved now."

"But I think the consumer is still demanding every type of kale."

Manos also said the media's promotion of the vegetable over the last few years had undoubtedly been the driving force behind consumer demand in the U.S.

"The media has just exploded with all kinds of different kinds of facts of kale. It's got all the vitamins and the omega-3, it's everything you can imagine, that's why they call it the super food," Manos said.

"So everybody's getting into it. And then there's all the diversity, they're making kale chips, kale salads. It's very very popular, they're a great alternative to your potato chip."

"Then also there are all the different types of kale - shredded salads, power greens. You see these words 'power' and 'super' – that's all you see when it comes to kale."

Reinvention will be necessary

Babe Farms has grows somewhere around 50-100 acres of kale, made up of the Red Bore, green, and black varieties.

Manos added the company had noticed that the kale yields generally weren't quite as high as other leafy green crops, but the consistently strong demand more than compensated for any small production issues.

She also agreed the availability of seed would be a serious challenge facing the industry over the coming years, along with how to maintain the high level of demand.

"There's always the next superfood," Manos said.

"Kale's had a pretty long reign here for the last few years as being the super food over everything. So marketing and reinventing it all the time will be important – creating things out of kale like the kale chips, and instead of the Romaine Caesar you've got the kale caesar now."

Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons

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