Today was another composting day – load three – 13 ton loads coming every other day. Each load providing a 150mm deep layer around and between each plant, creating a 1 metre wide strip of compost for each row. The compost is 25mm grade with a high percentage of fine material that I expect will be washed into the soil over the winter. My original concept had been to use around 150/160 tons across the site, but it looks as if I will be using possibly twice as much in order to have a thick layer that will mulch out the worst of the broad leaved weeds.
On the basis of spreading at this rate I am finding that I should have started this process in early September as cumulative rainfall is now starting to soften the ground. I am currently using a 30hp tractor and twin axle car transporter trailer which will take 2 tons of compost, but I am now cutting back the amount I am carrying in order to reduce the wheelings. Even so I have possibly another 4 weeks of deliveries to come and it might be that conditions become too soft to complete the whole job.
The other job for today was to meet a Trading Standards officer. This year I need to be starting development on food products. That means understanding which regulations will apply. As a farmer, crops are grown as commodities. They are grown within standards that are required by cross compliance with EU CAP rules. As soon as we start to take a commodity into processing Food safety; HACCP; analysis; label regulations; packaging regulations; environmental health the list goes on and makes me start to appreciate why the price paid to farmers reflects so little of the end product price.
Part of this process is deciding what sea buckthorn is and what legal description one can attach to it. Sea buckthorn is a natural product so I feel that it is essential to develop products with this as a primary concept. Sounds simple but that looks to analysing what key nutrients are the one’s to promote; how to grow sea buckthorn to deliver these key nutrients; and how to maintain the nutrients at chosen concentrations through the processing system.
This clarification of the definition of sea buckthorn will also guide the development of our website, which is starting now. Why have I not developed a website until now? Principally until now there have been too many uncertainties on farm. The length of time it takes for the plants to develop is both a frustration and a drain on resources. Resourcing the development of a new crop is a matter of priorities and not a matter of deciding what I need, but a matter of what I can do without or how a problem can be solved without spending what is a tight budget. With a potential crop on the Siberian plants next year it is now important to develop a marketing plan. With a marketing plan has to come the development of a product offering which needs to be developed within the context of a quality assurance scheme.
So 2015 needs to bring all these together.
And finally, today the post delivered confirmation of British sea buckthorn Co Ltd as a member of the German Sea Buckthorn Association. This is a key part of my thoughts on developing both the company and the market. Sea buckthorn has been grown across Europe for decades. They have the expertise. If sea buckthorn is going to gain credibility against other fruits like blueberry;bilberry; cranberry then it needs to come from a united industry working in co-operation to deliver the best product at the best quality.
