"Wolffia : Food of the Future"
Broadcasted on December 2nd, 2021 at 8.22AM with Puankookit program on Channel 33
Let's learn more about Wolffia - Tiny plant, giant nutrients through Advanced GreenFarm/s CSO Dr. Wisuwat Songnuan. Her interview with Puankookit program is transcribed below:
What is Wolffia?
Wolffia globosa is the world's tiniest flowering plant. The Thais have been calling it "Khai-nam or Khai-phum".
Those who have tasted it mostly want a repeat as it harbors rich nutrients and tastes good. It is easy to incorporate into a variety of recipes.
Wolffia Trend
Wolffia starts to be widely recognized both locally and globally for its superfood level nutritional content.
Wolffia is in a duckweed family, which has gained the limelight during the past few years, especially in the plant-based food and alternative protein trend because Wolffia yields high plant-based protein.
For equal calories consumed, Wolffia offers 2 times the protein compared to soybean. Plus, it offers high level of key vitamin and minerals. For example, 1 cup of Wolffia contains iron 10x broccoli and protein 3x kale.
Advanced GreenFarm's mission and vision
Wolffia used to be harvested from natural ponds by the locals. However, pollution has made Wolffia harvested from natural ponds become scarce and raised consumers' concerns about its cleanliness and safety.
Our founders, experts in plant biology, realizes the potential Wolffia has for consumers' health and the world's environment so we make it our mission to provide high quality Wolffia for the world's consumption. Using precision agriculture technology, we closely control water quality and fertilizers so that we can maximize the productivity and enhance Wolffia's nutritional contents.
Challenges as a startup
When we start our business, data on Wolffia cultivation is very scarce. We took around 2 years to compile data which we can now utilize to improve our cultivation techniques to maximize productivity.
Another difficult aspect is to raise awareness and gain acceptance for people who have not tried Wolffia. Most people have not heard of Wolffia. Some who has heard is still a bit confused as to how to cook Wolffia and integrate it to their meals. Thus, we work with restaurants and food industry partners to develop ready-to-eat recipes which better suit modern lifestyle.
Wolffia can help the environment
In addition to containing rich nutrients & high quality protein, Wolffia is one of the fastest-growing plants. Its cultivation requires minimal water & land use, highly sustainable.
Moreover, studies including our very own data have shown that Wolffia can capture CO2 per area more than a forest.
Our goals
With Wolffia's vast benefits, we feel like we are not simply cultivating an aquaplant but what we do is actually creating food security for Thailand and for the world.
Our goal is to one day show the world that the best Wolffia would be Wolffia that is cultivated from Thailand.