As the end of the year approaches it is a time for reflection and planning for the year ahead. Although we live in a technological age, farming will always be reliant upon the environment. As with this year again, December 2016 was mild, but the spring was wet. It flushed my soils of nutrients. Sea buckthorn is renoun for its ability to be nitrogen fixing. The symbiotic process that affiliates the plant with root nodules filled with Frankia bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that is essential for the plant to function. This process should provide the plant with most or even all the nitrogen it needs without need for artificial fertiliser supplement. Unfortunately in spring 2016 my male plants emerged from the winter with yellow not green leaves. At the time I thought I was going to lose them.
Springtime is blossom time in fruit orchards. It is a time of nervousness for fruit farmers as a late frost can damage the flower, which reduces the ability of bees and insects to pollinate the trees. Sea buckthorn’s native wild environment is often subject to extreme climates – the Siberian tundra, high in the Himalayas, or on the cold deserts of China. As winter subsides to spring these bitter and cold areas are devoid of pollinating insects. Hence sea buckthorn has developed to pollinate without the need for insects. The pollen is shaken from male plants and carried on the wind into surrounding females.
But at Devereux farm in April 2016 my male plants were sick. The result was poor pollination and although females adjacent to males produced some berries, the bulk of the crop was tiny. Hence from that April, every month through to October the plants were given a foliar feed of compost tea. They came through the season looking strong. Discussions with Simon Parfey, of the International Soil hub who supply my compost tea, have created a plan to start the foliar feed in late February in 2017. Hopefully the males will fly into the spring and perform with excellence setting the scene for a good crop of berries in 2017.
I wish I did not need to add the word “hopefully” to the plan for next year’s crop but it is an unfortunate truth that until three consecutive crops have been produced by the same management process, there can be no guarantee of success.
Guaranteeing success requires stability. For farming we need environmental and economic stability and in the current world politics has the ability to influence both. Climate change is a big issue for Devereux farm. Unpredictable seasons is a problem, but with 5 kilometres of sea walls protecting the farmland it is the increased winter storminess and incidence of surge tides and the potential of sea level rise that is most worrying. I take some comfort however that this week, the author of “the Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore had an opportunity to discuss the matter with president elect Trump and his daughter. For all that has been said, the fact that Mr Gore reported his discussions are going to be continuing with President Trump I have to take as heartening. There should be no choice in the matter, but politics is an odd world.
I also take some comfort in the issue that the EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner has promised at the end of 2016 to launch a consultation process to resolve the long standing issue over health claims from plant sourced products. The reason why I grow sea buckthorn is my recognition that its berries, its leaves and even its bark have been subject to many research projects indicating that the plant has special properties. Research is not everything but when there is so much research that focuses on bioactive nutrients on the one hand and health benefits on the other there is more to sea buckthorn than it being just a fruit. Whether it has been used by Romans, Greeks, Alexander the Great, Genghiz Khan, is an indication similar to many plant histories that until the 20th century, most medicine was based on plant sources. It is this traditional use that has created an issue for the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA). A number of EU States have permitted plant sourced supplements to be used as their use is based on tradition and an acceptance of being safe to the consumer.
The EFSA system provides a regulatory system demanding that health claims must be based on research from human clinical trials. This follows the pharmaceutical trials process that identifies a single active ingredient and the benefit it provides. Plants source products are not based on single nutrients. In the case of sea buckthorn there are 190 different nutrients. This mix means that there is potential that health benefits rely upon a synergy of nutrients working together. Hippocrates – the father of medicine, stated it as “Let food be thy medicine” which translates into the age old advice – the best diet is a well balanced diet of natural products.
There is a further complication for the botanical sourced traditional medicine regulatory issue. All plants grow in a natural environment that every year is subject to many variables induced by weather, soil quality and management. This will not alter the nutrient type but it can impact on the concentrations of each one, meaning that there is not chemical consistency as in the pharmaceutical situation. This variation means that exact scientific research is difficult to replicate so some would say it cannot be validated.
In consequence the EU Commissioner is faced with over 1500 botanical sourced health claims that have been kept on hold. The EFSA system does not fit as research results can vary, but tradition says that product is safe and has efficacy. EU States are defying the EFSA system so there has to be a resolution. There are 600,000 jobs involved in the plant based supplement industry across the EU. There are consumers and Trading Standards looking for guidance. So finally the 2016 consultation process looks to resolve the issue once and for all.
Of course all this pales into insignificance faced with the news from the Berlin Christmas markets. 2010, I remember as my first snowy visit to Berlin and the first Euroworks Sea buckthorn conference. With many international delegates this was a taste of friendship, openness and great hospitality. I have looked forward to every return visit and enjoyed the same open friendship. It is with so much sadness that as with Paris and other atrocities before it there are those in the world who are only focused on forcing their views on others with such devastating results. This time of year is one of reflection and hope for the future. I truly hope that 2017 will see our politicians reflect on their retoric and come together in true collaboration to meet the challenges we face – particularly as many of them are the result of poor political decision making.
Happy Christmas
