After years of sitting perched at the top of the highest superfood pedestal, kale might be dethroned. Nope — there isn't some frilly new cruciferous green taking its place: There's a global kale shortage coming for it.
According to ABC News Australia, Bejo Seeds, one of the top companies that supplies seeds to farmers across the world, is running dangerously low thanks to kale's impressive resurgence over the past few years. Savor that bitter green juice while you've got it, folks.
Long-time grower Joh Bruynen, who started importing kale seeds from the Netherlands to his native Australia in 1956, told ABC he had trouble selling the crop 60 years ago because nobody knew what it was: "I brought it to the market and the butchers bought it to decorate their shops because it looked like parsley, which they used in between the meat," he said.
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Now, Bruynen's son Steve, who's taken over the family business, says he's had to downgrade the amount of land he's allotted to less trendy vegetables like red cabbage and leeks to make room for kale over the past three years.
"'We probably only planted probably 3,000 or 4,000 plants a season," he told the Daily Mail. "Now, we're up to about 25,000 plants. I still haven't had enough."
Fortunately, ABC adds, Tony Hubbard from Bejo Seeds said he's hoping — that's right, it's not definite — that more seeds will be available again in late fall, right around the time we'll be shunning salads and green juice for more, uh, comforting fare.