Author: britishseabuckthorn

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Visions of the future

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Winter at Devereux farm comes more from windchill than real cold, but arrive it has. The ground is now sodden and there will be no chance of moving anything except a wheelbarrow across the ground until March.

I have had a visit from Simon Parfey who supplies my compost tea,  advice on organic matters and soil samples. A visit such as this allows a period of taking stock on the year that has passed. Effectively the year has been disease free. Gone is the vision of hundreds of plants with branch die back in 2013.

Insect pests are represented by the vapourer moth yet again. The variety Altaiskaya took some real punishment from aphids. The plants recovered but it was remarkable how specific it was to this variety.

Matt and I, along with Seth Pascoe from Cornish Seaberry visited Germany at harvest time to see how a fully mechanised sea buckthorn harvesting system works. It gave an impressive vision for the future showing that with investment significant areas of commercial sea buckthorn are viable. The news that one farm in Germany had yielded 300 tons from 25 hectares, planted only four years ago – indicates that breeding and technology are moving the crop forward.

Seth went on to the International sea Buckthorn Association conference in India last month.  With 200 delegates from 18 countries it is clear that the global sea buckthorn industry is moving forward. The conference is held every two years, with a European event inbetween. Our next one in 2016 will be in Latvia. An interesting location as a lot of good research work comes from the country. As there has been further news of sea buckthorn fly attacking orchards in Scandinavia and Germany this year, it will be good to hear first hand as to what preventative measures growers are taking to combat this menace.

There will always be new challenges ahead, but should one feel optimistic or not as to the outcome of the Climate Change conference in Paris this week. Our farm was flooded in 1953, an event that happened approxiamtely every 100 years.  Following surge tide events in 2007 and then 2013 we are now aware that these events are no longer once in a lifetime incidents. The flooding in  Cumbria has shown that government investment made after the 2005 floods has proven inadequate. Reliance upon government to solve these issues is maybe wishful thinking. Solutions may have to be found more on using local knowledge and resources.  Challenging climate change needs to be tackled both on a proactive and reactive basis. It is up to global governments to be proactive in generating resources for new technologies; regulatory controls; and risk managing this crisis. But it is up to local communities to assess their vulnerabilities, plan how to minimise the impact of extreme events and be able to react to such incidents and control their futures.

For my business it too has to find its own solutions for survival and success. In January I have a visitor coming here who I see as a sustainability guru. Getting to grips with sustainability is about making choices. Choices that avoid wasteful operations. Insuring that investments will reduce resource reliance. Building the concept in every layer of the business. It is a worthy goal, but progress may have to be balanced by practicality in the short term.  So that is my focus for 2016 – that and delivering a real crop of sweet Siberian berries.

 

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Definingthe right process for the right quality

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This summer the sea buckthorn harvest at Devereux farm was as much a process of investigation as a process of production. Farming normally concentrated on the production of commodity crops. The crop is harvested and stored within a well understood process. Storage is a matter of creating a controlled environment to maintain quality, together with the exclusion of all pests that might damage or contaminate the crop.

Sea buckthorn is much the same, except both the harvesting and storage process is not standardised. A lack of standard process means that each year will involve some trial; some error and continuous review and improvement.

One of the tasks I have been reviewing is defining our harvest and post harvest processes in order to achieve full HACCP accreditation. This is a critical analysis of how we will produce and deliver consistent safe standards when delivering fruit for customers.

There is a level where critical analysis starts to become paranoia – each activity being given a full risk analysis to define what should be the best solution to an identified problem. The goal from my perspective is to show a potential customer that all our produce and product will be free from contamination from pest, soil, disease, chemical, or mechanical damage. Furthermore that when they use our produce they can be 100% confident that it will be safe to pass onto their customers.

Going through this process, and putting it this way one starts to believe that there are risks around every activity. In reality the risks are probably very small, but apart from the fact that one wants to produce high quality product the analytical risk assessing process does reveal the full complexity of what we need to do.

As small producers we are not going to be looking for highly mechanised systems. Simple has to be the solution. Affordability has to be the principle criteria, but always looking to achieve the same goal of consistent safe produce to create confidence in our market.

Harvest speed is a primary aim. Aiming to harvest branchlets off the field and into the chill store within an hour is the goal. Reducing the risk of harvesting unripe; damaged or less than perfect fruit is essential. Harvesting branchlets of the right size to maximise efficiency in processing will reduce energy and waste. As we are using freezing as the core process to remove berries from the branchlets, temperature control is a factor from the moment the branchlet is cut.

One of the principle lessons from harvest 2015 was how much birds love the Siberian variety berries. 2016 these varieties will be netted. A significant undertaking across the whole site.

Having visited a cherry farm this week to understand how one nets a whole field, other pests came to mind. The sea buckthorn fly and spotted wing fruit fly – apart from the vapourer moth caterpillars that have made their presence known all too often.

Controlling the flies is normally a process of chemical spray. These insect shave a capacity to destroy 50% of the crop. The normal process is to use chemicals. This is something I really want to avoid. There are some methods of breaking the life cycle of these flies through non-chemical means, so remaining chemical free might be possible. On that basis 2016 should be the year Devereux farm sea buckthorn goes organic. The reason for not doing it has been financial up until now. Certification is another cost. Until the crop starts to create an income all spending has to be made in order of priority.

It seems that most of the development of our sea buckthorn crop keeps on a single track – a focus on the need to produce quality.

Quality will be the focus of developing the HACCP process but there needs to be a parallel outcome of this development. That being defining what we mean by quality.

 

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Sustainability will be the order of the day

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It has been both a practical and an academic week. Kicking off with a good dose of manual weeding first thing on Monday morning loosens up both body and mind. The next three days where allocated to the great Food Matters Live conference. In reality Matt covered Wednesday and I the other two.

Food Matters is going to become an annual pilgrimage. With eight seminar rooms, each turning out twenty odd technical discussions over each day, the only complaint I have is there is too much choice.

This year my focus was on nutrition for health; marketing; packaging with a look in on immunity. With the drive to find natural alternatives to sugar, and so much talk about the after taste of stevia – the last talk on Thursday threw Yacon in as an option.

Sea buckthorn’s nutrient quality will always define its taste as sharp, but the UK consumer has been brought up on sweetness. Finding a new source of natural sugar without calories is of interest. One that maybe we could grow on the farm would of course be of interest. Growing sea buckthorn has its growing challenges, so the fact that Yacon comes from Peru should not be a barrier. One might question however why we should bother.

The answer possibly comes from a vision of the future. I read this week that a recent IPSOS MORI poll indicates that 9 out of 10 people say they believe climate change is a threat. This comes at a time when next month the UN will hold their Climate Change conference in Paris.  One of the seminars at Food Matters was on sustainability within the food industry. Waste and resources management becoming a key concern both from an economic and environmental viewpoint. It also featured at Generation Farm 2015, sustainability this time being necessary to challenge a “trilemma” of threats  of food scarcity, climate change and the depletion of natural resources – particularly soil. Building our farm future on integrated crops that deliver the capacity to produce on farm product with a minimum of resources has to be a vision to work for.

Soil is our greatest asset. It is the medium that over the past few decades we have taken for granted too much.  It has to be managed sustainably for future generations.  It is the medium in which over 95% of the world’s food is produced and yet it is being lost at an alarming rate. It is not only the means to grow our food, but also the means by which we deliver the nutrient quality in our food.

Conferences like Food Matters reveal trends of which nutrients offer health opportunities in the future. Our international sea buckthorn conferences and growers bible give plant and soil management ideas to enhance the quality of the sea buckthorn crop.  Market trends might provide specific nutrients as quality indicators.  But focusing on particular nutrients can miss the point. Sea buckthorn is not an artificially fortified product. It has a natural nutrient formula that works in a multitude of ways. As growers we must nurture and deliver the natural formula to consumers – that will be our quality parameter.

If soil is an essential resource, small businesses access to funding is equally important. It is concerning therefore when it is reported that 17% of SMEs report their overdrafts have been reduced or withdrawn over the past two years. The Bank of England reports that every day since 2011 £5 million has been cut from SME overdrafts.

The pre-2008 recession economic environment saw borrowing levels at un realistic levels.For SMEs developing new enterprise is risky and this does not fit well when banks are under pressure to reduce the riskier element of their balance sheets. Crowd funding is an option. The news this week that the mini drone project fronted by KickStarter is causing concern  re-inforces the need for realism and caution.

 

Some enterprises look for quick returns. Sea buckthorn takes a number of years to come to peak yield. Our vision for sea buckthorn is a long term future with a sustainable crop -delivering natural quality to satisfied customers. Developing the business is not a challenge, it is a process – and even the weeding can be enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

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Tragedy and a positive look for the future

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The night of November 13th in Paris is not something that last week I would have added to my blog. Having paused for 2 minutes silent reflection at 11am just two days before to think on the loss of life to war and maybe how little we have learnt since 1918, it seems shocking to be considering now the waste of so many lives and the sadness of what draws the perpetrators of such events to create such grief. In a time of great global economics, maybe these events are the price that we have to bear as life becomes more dehumanised and the split between rich and poor becomes politicised.

Change is something that is happening all the time. Last weekend Ben, who is currently studying at post graduate level said that the future of farming will be looking to robotics and will not be farming as we know it. This is repeated in the current edition of the Fruit Grower with a photograph of a Bosch built robot that analyses and weeds crops. Robotics are not just about a transition to a low staff level in agriculture, they are about improving quality, reducing costs and being competitive.

Quality and value has recently been reflected in another study this week coming out from Euromonitor International. It recognises the growth in the Health and Wellbeing market across the world. The continued press regarding obesity, diabetes; the trials of NHS budgets; the war on sugar by the government, in Uk terms all start to make a healthier diet look like something that consumers should and are driving themselves. Consumers are moving away from unhealthy and adulterated foods particularly at breakfast time – although i wonder whether this is also about changes in eating habits. Healthy foods are outstriping fortified and functional foods – naturally healthy presented with a clean understandable label possibly gaining more trust from consumers. Interestingly organic food out performs even the naturally healthy. This is a global phenomenon but if one combines organic and naturally healthy it must say a lot about how consumers are thinking. Add to this the growth in free from and intolerance based foods and the food industry is moving towards a health conscious consumer.

Where does that leave sea buckthorn? They are certainly natural and healthy. The fresh berry market, according to Kantar Worldpanel has grown 31% in the last year exceeding a record £1 billion. This from  £600m just five years ago.  These are mainstream fruits – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. These fruits are intensively farmed and have significant marketing budgets behind them.  They are promoted as an ideal snack with renown health benefits.

We went to Germany this September to see sea buckthorn mechanical harvesting and processing in action. The internet is seeing a huge rise in sea buckthorn related interest. The fruit has an exceptional nutritional profile that excels these other mainstream fruits. 2016 will be our first true harvest with fresh fruit available for the UK market. Visits to food fairs keep showing there is significant demand for sea buckthorn as a new and innovative ingredient. – investment takes time to bring reward but 2016 will bring on our year of change. Let us hope 2016 will also be a year where peace and goodwill can start to erode some of the on-going tragedies in the world today.

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Confusing communication

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Winter has set in and so with it comes the dismal task of weeding. Weeding should not be necessary, as one of the golden rules of growing sea buckthorn is to control weeds. The issue will however soon be committed to the past as I am really hoping that by this spring i will have a compost spreader. It might not sound a very exciting thing to most people, but this moves my field work into the 21st century. Gone will be hand weeding 5000 plants through the wet and cold of winter. The thrower is a bespoke machine that will allow me to bury area around each plant below 6-8 inches of 25mm grade green waste compost. The fact it comes with a tractor means that my two second hand mowers will also be retiring to be replaced a larger, faster, more powerful means of keeping the grass between the plants under close control. No weeds means no competition for the sea buckthorn.

Smothering the ground will also help in the control of sea buckthorn fly if it crosses from Europe to the UK next year. The fly lay eggs in the berries. The full metamorphosis process ends up with pupae falling to the ground to over winter in the soil. Hopefully the compost will create a barrier to the soil and as it rots down the pupae will be exposed to predatory birds. Sea buckthorn fly can reduce a crop by over 50% so control is crucial.

The news of the compost thrower is not the only significant issue this month. British Sea buckthorn started trading in its own right this month. The first product being a sea buckthorn supplement for horses. The target market is performance horses – racing; eventing; dressage; show jumping. It is a classic product following the historic linkage with Hippophae as its plant name translating to Shiny Horse. Selling sea buckthorn in the UK falls under the Nutrition and Health Claim directive. This covers food/drink and human products, but for the horse industry we come under the control of the Vet and Medicines directorate. It is frustrating as we have many customers with great testamonials. They say sea buckthorn has helped their horse – but legally we are restricted from saying how the product benefits them.

I fully sympathise with the need for controls that only allow marketing to refer to benefits proven by science, but as i have said a number of times in this blog – proving how a botanical product works is very difficult.

Statements, like statistics are not always what they seem. Nutrition is a minefield as it is highly complex impacted by many variables. So when the World Health Organisation classified “all red meat as probably carcinogen to humans” the reaction has, not unsurprisingly been mixed. The media picked up this statement and all of a sudden two rashers of bacon a day are deemed to heighten the risk of bowel cancer by 18%. An article I read this weekend rationalised this statistic. In the UK we all have a risk of bowel cancer that is around 6.25%. This 18% risk, may lift this risk to 7.35%. But what of the balanced diet, what of lifestyle influences, what of genetic inheritance issues – these bold statements do little but create initial panic, followed by sane ridicule. Unfortunately if there was value in the original issue then the point is lost through poor communication.

So when we look to market our sea buckthorn should we leave the product to sell itself and allow for market growth to be by good consumer experience, or should we be looking to trying to communicate the science that comes from research papers? Science is not static, understanding processes is growing and changing all the time. But as the bacon saga suggests, it is not what you say that matters, it is how you say it that conveys the message.

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Turmoil in the EU over health claims

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The focus here at British Sea buckthorn often revolves around the question what is sea buckthorn. There are many websites that provide information on phtyochemical content and potential benefits, but we all know that when it comes to selling product regulations require benefit claims to be substantiated by scientific evidence.

The EU evidence review body has really struggled to provide any positive judgements on botanical sourced claims. The subject becomes clouded by natural biochemical complexity and regulatory requirement to meet highly defined clinical trial results.

It has been an interesting week therefore when it was reported that a court in Italy had thrown out an Italian Competition Authority ruling against a company making claims on fermented extract of papaya. The ruling had followed  EU Nutrition and Health Claim directive legislative guidance, but the court ruling is said to effectively voided the Health Claims regs in Italy – at least for a while.

There has also been an interesting turn in the novel food regulations accepting SME’s will not be charged for making bringing a novel food through the regulatory process.. Add to that the statement today that the EU intends to deliver rulings on nutritional profiling and botanicals in 2016, which was supposed to be completed in 2009.

There is then the discussion at the European Food Safety Agency that decision has to be more open. Science is about challenging peers; about scepticism; about  finding the nearest approximation of the truth. The new head of EFSA talks of developing a process of structured open data, allowing IP to be released through a patent style fee paid system. Call me an optimist, but coming from an SME perspective when funding R&D is challenging, the potential that regulators may become seen as more transparent and able to work with innovators not obstruct them can only be good news.

Sea buckthorn is a multi functional botanical facilitated by a highly complex soup of biochemicals. There is a wealth of research that pushes and prods at creating an understanding of the methodology and chemical pathways that may be associated with benefits that have been emerged from practical use.

As someone that wants to bring sea buckthorn to market and recognises some of these practical outcomes from years of personal use, it is frustrating not to have definitive clinical trials that have swept that EFSA with accredited claims. It is not surprising however with botanicals remaining in limbo with EFSA that funding clinical trials does not find favour with investors. Again as an optimist, and working within regulations I am sure its wider use will develop as more people try and discover its potential for themselves.

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European Superfruit flying the flag

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I am still in awe of Mathew, British Sea Buckthorn co-director completing his Iron man challenge. 3.8km sea swim; 180km cycle ride over the mountains of Mallorca followed by a full marathon. Being fit and enough practice was only part of his game – it also executed a great plan. A plan to conserve and use energy to make it through in under the 16 hours allocated. It is inspirational.

As British Sea buckthorn rolls onto another R&D year it also rolls into a new plan. Harvest 2015 has defined how we will harvest in the future and improve efficiency. The plan for this winter will also see us working with new companies promoting sea buckthorn in the UK as a superfruit.

Working with others to promote your product is about developing market awareness. The VW issues that broke last week show that brands are not always as shiny as they seem. Consumer trust is the holy grail for all companies. Tarnish it, and it can take years to remove the blemish. But transgressions are human errors. Consumers look for perfection, and perfection we should deliver, but mistakes will happen. They are the learning curve that creates quality and defines brands.

Superfruit was a term developed in 2005 to describe a natural product with exceptional qualities. It was abused by some in making health benefit claims that could not be substantiated. One of the results was the EU Nutrition and health Claim regulations. Laws to protect the consumer and to guide the manufacturer.

Two weeks ago at a Growth Accelerator masterclass my presentation on sea buckthorn explained the nutritional power of the fruit with all its bioactive compounds. One of the audience cut through all my detail and stated – so its a superfruit. Simplicity returns. It was not the term superfruit that was discredited back in the mid 2000s, it was the actions that tarnished it.

Back in 2012 a Julian Mellentine report on innovative functional food products stated the need for clarity; backed by authority and defining difference.  Our plan in 2015/16 will be to see sea buckthorn in the UK market as European superfruit. The reaction from companies at the LUNCH 2015 exhibition  last Friday proved there is interest and demand. So with Iron Man resolve this will be a classic development year.

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Iron Man- a great sea buckthorn challenge

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Harvest has now come to an end and a lot has been learnt. the biggest challenge though this week is not with the sea buckthorn but for Mathew who is at this moment six hours into his Iron man challenge in Mallorca. He has finished his 3.8km sea swim in 1 hour 17min which is impressive as the first of the pros finished in 48 mins. With a mountain to climb on his cycle of over 100km, then followed by a marathon his target is to finish within the 16 hour course time limit – coming in a 11pm tonight. His progress can be found under Mathew Swain on the Iron Man Mallorca website – ironman.com..

With challenges like iron man, sea buckthorn seems easy.

This week’s highlight has been at the “Lunch” exhibition in London. Without exception all those that tried our fresh sea buckthorn berries really liked them. I also took a new potential product – apple infused dried berries which went down very well in the bakery and energy bar sector. So with harvest 2015 finished this has made a great start for the next year and some partners to work with.

The day was crowned by coming home and collecting the mechanics of a blast freezer for next harvest. Hardly used and the chance to go next week to gain the materials to build a cold store from one being dismantled. So the year is looking good.