Expanding from 12 tonnes of salad in a week to half a day
Baby leaf salad pioneer’s Hussey & Co has revolutionised their business with cutting-edge technology and sustainability practices.
Sustainability, quality assurance and consistency aren’t just buzz words to Jeremy Haw of Hussey & Co.
Instead, they are the real drivers of the Hussey & Co business.
Renowned for producing gourmet baby leaf salad mixes, Hussey & Co, was established in 1975 by Brian Hussey who pioneered growing Australia’s first baby leaf product on his 16ha Pearcedale farm on the Mornington Peninsula.
Brian had seen French farmers growing mesclun and brought the idea home to Australia to try.
“He really changed the lettuce game with the baby leaf category,” Jeremy said.
In the early 2000s, Brian sold Hussey & Co to New Zealand investors. It was then that Jeremy, a migrant from South Africa, joined the team and quickly became the general manager.
After his second offer to buy the company, Jeremy purchased Hussey & Co in 2006, and set out to expand and turn it into a vertically integrated business.
Farms at Newry and Bushy Park were added, as well as a state-of-the-art processing facility on the Pearcedale farm.
And to coincide with its 50th anniversary in 2025, Hussey & Co has launched Hussey Group, a national grower processor model, the first of its kind in the Australian baby leaf industry. It is a partnership between Hussey & Co and Supa Fresh in Western Australia, which brings six farms in Victoria and Western Australia and ready to eat processing facilities on the east coast and west coast together.
“It has increased our capacity, and offers consistent year-round supply. Hussey Group has the capacity and capability to meet growing demand in retail, wholesale and export markets,” he said.
SALES DRIVEN
In 2006 when Jeremy took over, Hussey & Co was selling about 12 tonnes of salad leaves a week into the domestic market. Hussey & Co now process 12 tonnes in just half a day’s production.
Hussey & Co produces a wide range of baby leaf salad varieties including baby spinach, rocket, baby cos, chard, snow pea tendrils, mizuna and tatsoi – these are either as single leaf or in specialty mixes to wholesale customers.
They also sell a variety of prepacked salad bags that are shelf-ready.
“The convenience of the ready-to-eat prepacked salad has taken over,” Jeremy said.
He said prior to him purchasing Hussey & Co it was a traditional farm to wholesale model, but he had vertically integrated the business and built a processing facility, so they now handle everything until it is sold to a customer.
Jeremy was instrumental in getting baby leaf salad into Asia. After attending a trade show in Singapore, Hussey & Co started supplying Singapore Airlines. Other airlines and export customers were soon added, before Covid changed things and cheaper options became available.
Jeremy said now with the addition of WA exporting may become a growth market again.
As a business model Jeremy said they were efficient and sales driven.
“We are farmers, but we are sales driven, so we also see ourselves as manufacturers. We have a system and KPIs and we understand the financials every day,” he said.
“We are specific and strategic about what we do.”
This approach also applies to waste and technology at Hussey & Co.
“Waste in our product is a big component, but we have systems in place to improve efficiencies,” Jeremy said.
To help reduce waste they have become more efficient with their forecasts and planning.
“We want to harvest a full metre of product if we plant that amount, so a good plan and systems ensure that happens and that then reduces waste.”
SOIL HEALTH
Hussey & Co has invested in reverse osmosis technology, generating potable processing and drinking water on-site.
“This innovative technology ensures the safety and efficiency of water used in food-processing operations,” Jeremy said.
A composting program to invest in their soil improvement was also a key piece for Hussey & Co.
“We have reinvestment in our budget each year for sustainability and soil. If we don’t look after the soil, it will destroy our business. Investing back into soil health delivers for us.”
Hussey & Co uses soil moisture monitoring probes to provide data on the storing capacity of the soil, monitor groundwater movement, and deliver vital crop water use insights.
“This approach helps to ensure water conservation, minimise wastage and monitor soil health,” Jeremy said.
Proving sustainability isn’t just a buzz word, Hussey & Co has developed the largest solar farm on the Mornington Peninsula, with a 750 kilowatt system installed about seven years ago.
The solar farm offsets 100 per cent of the peak daytime energy use, resulting in significant cost savings. The solar also cuts 945 tonnes of carbon emissions.
VALUE ADD
Technology is another big component of success at Hussey & Co.
Jeremy said they have undertaken significant research, development and investment to create a unique processing model which prioritises food safety, produces unrivalled quality and improves product value and performance.
The processing facility boasts an air-drying tunnel, a triple-wash system and optical sorting. Hussey & Co was the first Australian grower to invest in optical sorting technology, using infra-red cameras to grade the salad processing line at ultra-high speed to dramatically improve product quality.
The air dryer allowed Hussey & Co to control moisture better, decrease bruising on produce and increase output.
An X-ray machine was also installed in the packhouse to eliminate the risk of foreign object contamination.
Once harvested, salad leaves are vacuum cooled below 4C in two hours, then triple-washed, optically sorted, air dried and air cooled to enhance shelf life. Jeremy said the shelf life was 12-14 days if refrigerated at 2-4C.
Jeremy said their “cold, clean and dry” processing is the gold standard in food safety, delivering premium quality value-added ready-to-eat salads with extended shelf life, flavour, and freshness.
“These innovative technologies help ensure the highest level of food safety as a ready-to-eat product, while also delivering consistency, so our customers enjoy exceptional quality salad, every time,” Jeremy said.
“Innovation and leadership through technology have advanced the whole baby leaf industry, challenging conventions to develop new benchmarks in quality, safety and product performance.”
Having received the 2025 Australian Grower of the Year Award at the Horticulture Awards for Excellence and expanded nationally with the launch of Hussey Group, Jeremy said they see new opportunities to meet growing demand for high quality salad.
“Fresh salads have been ranked number 1 in the NielsenIQ Top 20 Fresh Fruit and Vegetables list for the last three years. With 90 per cent of Australian households buying fresh salad, there is significant demand for the category,” Jeremy said.
