A failed Solid Energy move into biodiesel was a win for rapeseed oil and led to a humble decade of growth capitalising on the New Zealand brand exporting high-quality, environmentally friendly oil as a food ingredient.
Nick Murney, Managing Director of Pure Oil NZ joined Sarah to share the story of his management buy-out and how they have used the capital investment and passionate suppliers to branch out into NZ grown sunflowers and soybean.
“Sunflowers are now established as a solid cropping option for the future of arable”
Known for their retail brand, The Good Oil, it only makes up 5% of their 500 hectares that Pure Oil contracts Canterbury growers to provide.
Pure Oil’s managing director Nick Murney joins Sarah to discuss:
Pure Oil produced a range of commercial and retail cold-pressed sunflower and rapeseed oils, and had a sizeable agricultural business, which included the production of plant-based protein feed for animals and industrial oils.
“For the investors and the board, it’s time for us to invest a little more into the business and tick it along,” managing director Nick Murney told the Ticker.
This has seen Pure Oil undertake an agronomy research and development programme as the company scopes the “human feed opportunities” of soybean, which was used to make a wide range of food and beverage products such as milk, tofu and soy sauce.
“The market opportunities look good,” Murney said. “We’ll get more into these food products as this business carries on.”
While Murney would not go into specifics on their soy-based protein and food opportunities, he ruled out soy under The Good Oil brand.
