The Science
Leaves have always been central to humanity's story. We have relied on leafy vegetables for our nutrition, we drink their components in tea, we have used them as herbs, pharmaceuticals and as symbols in our cultural ceremonies. We’ve used the fibers to provide shelter, clothing, rigging and utensils.
Beyond this, green leaves are the starting point for almost everything on our plates. They gather the sun’s energy and nutrients from the soil and drive the growth of grains and seeds. The green leaves in our pastures are the food that allows our livestock to flourish and provide.
At Leaft, our focus is on all that each leaf has to offer. A little-known fact is when you put aside the fibre, leaves contain a similar ratio of high-quality protein, sugars and oils to milk – and hundreds of valuable nutrients.
Rubisco - The Utopia Protein
For decades, a few people have known that Rubisco - the powerhouse enzyme behind photosynthesis - is the “utopia protein”: abundant, nutritious, and remarkably functional. You already eat it in spinach, kale, alfalfa, and other leafy greens on your plate every day.
Proteins are built from amino acids that power life itself, enabling muscle movement, enzyme activity, and immune function. In food, they provide nutrition while creating structure, texture, and flavour.
Rubisco is different. A delicate, yet vital enzyme, it captures carbon dioxide and fuels plant growth - the foundation of our entire food system. Alongside this role, Rubisco delivers an amino acid profile and digestibility superior even to its competitors. Beyond nutrition, it excels in functionality - emulsifying, foaming, and gelling to create exceptional performance in food.
The Source
The foundation for what we do is growing in our deep Canterbury soils - alfalfa. Cultivated for over 2,000 years this remarkable plant fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil, is efficient with water compared to other crops, grows year after year without cultivating the soil and can be harvested multiple times annually.
What makes alfalfa truly extraordinary is what it contains: more protein produced per hectare than almost any other crop on Earth, locked away in unassuming green leaves.
This is the future of food – sustainable agriculture built and refined over generations enhanced by innovation. This is what meaningful change looks like.