Author: britishseabuckthorn

Another week approaches and field work is becoming an all consuming focus – at a time when there are mounding piles of paper jobs waiting in the office.

I met my neighbour on Friday, who lives on an island in the middle of the Hamford water National nature reserve that Devereux farm is next to. We exchanged current thoughts and the topic turned to the vapourer moth caterpillar. The handsome, black furry beast that ravages my sea buckthorn plants. Not only is my neighbour allergic to its excretions but they are now so many on his island that they are starting to strip trees of their leaves. In his experience there are no predators and no means to control them. So when pruning on Friday and I came across another two plants with these voracious insects on them I was very particular about ensuring that I removed every one I found.

Next week I shall start the next round of compost tea foliar feed. It is particularly important at the moment as the fruit will be setting soon. Ensuring a supply of trace elements is suggested to enhance berry quality. Iodine, boron, cobalt and zinc potentially improving vitamin C. Copper and manganese influencing levels of carotenoids.

At the moment the plants look healthy but as I have reported before there are the occasional ones that have partial dieback. The leaves dessicate and I am adopting a precautionary approach and pruning out any such branches to reduce further infection. The same old culprit of Elizaveta variety seems to be a problem but this is in odd individuals. I am still concerned about the variety Altaiskaya. It seems to be going through a late flowering stage. The plants have come into leaf but compared with others they are backward. This is almost universal in all the Altaiskaya across the plantation

As with all jobs, most work is routine, so on the list now – the whole site needs mowing; compost tea every three weeks; removing all visible pests; prune out all disease; with a one off job being compost mulch across all plants probably starting in ten days time. This would normally be done in April but again lack of availability of machinery has made this not possible. On my clay soils I see it as important as it prevents the upper layer of the soil drying out and creating stress for plants roots that are close to the surface. The mulch is improving the soil ecology as the same time, which I see as an important contributor to controlling plant disease.

British Sea Buckthorn Co Ltd as our development business also needs the same level of concentration as that demanded in the field. 2015 will be an important year. The first berries will provide the inspiration for product development. But all plans need to be tempered with reality, and before plans can be fully formulated there needs to be reconciliation with regulation and resourcing.

Once spring starts it is easy to get lost in field work. The plants need compost tea feeding; weeds that are starting to encroach on stems need pulling up; caterpillers need removing; dead work needs pruning. The plants are growing so time is an issue.

Time is an issue is the problem. We had a British Sea Buckthorn Co. Ltd meeting yesterday to discuss progress and plans for 2015. Ben said – ” do you need to be doing all the field work?”. It was a very good point. It was particularly valid as I had had an email from Ireland from some one that was interested in growing sea buckthorn. My original concept of growing sea buckthorn was that it was a hardy plant that would survive almost anywhere. As an idea it worked in 2012 and I allowed the grass to grow. The plants looked healthy. In 2013 the whole plantation was hit by disease. The advice that was given was that the plants were under too much stress from weed competition. So from then on I am focused upon stress management. In my answer to the question I said – sea buckthorn is a crop and a crop that we expect to provide a high quality yield. You cannot expect something for nothing. Hence i justify the time i spend every day on keeping the plants weed and pest free. Every day because everything is being done by hand. This year’s objective is to mechanise the mowing/ spraying/ compost spreading. Time is not the only asset in finite supply. When funding is limited to income then spending is prioritised as to what is absolutely necessary.

Field work can be done by hand, therefore machinery can be considered to be a non-essential. This year I have to crack a low cost harvesting method; storage and processing. Harvesting and processing that can maintain the nutritional quality of the crop as much as is possible. So it is this that has to take the priority. This year is about trial and development. New product development  to generate new income streams allowing the bringing on board of a knowledge transfer graduate linked to a university. This will bring focused and managed work and research capacity to move the farm crop and product development forward sustainably funded through product sale. It all just takes time.

But more importantly developing a business with the right brand image is also a prime objective. Yesterday I read an article relating to presentations from Peter Wennstrom of the Healthy Marketing Team. British Sea Buckthorn have used the Team for advice and follow their philosophy. The current thinking is that consumers have moved on from being calorie counters – Nutrition now matters. Ingredients are important not just health claims. The issue for sea buckthorn is is ensuring consumers understand what it is. In Peter Wennstrom’s approach there are four factors: need the product; accept the ingredient; understand the benefit and finally trust the brand.

Here at  British Sea buckthorn we are following these principles and look to ensure that the ingredient that we are going to sell fulfills a need and that consumers understand and accept sea  buckthorn as an ingredient they understand. By doing that well we will build trust in our brand.

As I walk the rows of my sea buckthorn plants this April there is a level of excitment and anticipation as to what they will produce this year. After a dry month the weather has broken and we have had a refreshing weekend of rain. Klaudia always has been the most advanced of varieties, along with Elizaveta; Chuiskaya; and sudarushka. Inya, a variety that stands tall and straight when compared with the others is starting to develop a head of leaf. Altaiskaya is the furthest from the others, showing a tight brush of leaf on each stem head.

Following kirsten Jensen’s visit in February the advise was not to give the plants their spring fee of Chicken manure pellets. Frankia should provide the nitrogen that the plant needs and by providing the pellets it might even reduce the potential of Frankia to perform. The concept is good because these organic chicken pellets are expensive, but there may be practical drawbacks if frankia has not developed in some individual plants.

Not unsurprisingly it is Elizaveta that is an area for concern. This variety has been the one that has been most vigourous in growth. It was also the one that was most open to disease back in 2013. So looking at the plants now in spring 2015 the leaves are fully developed but slightly yellow by comparison with others. This is across most of the elizaveta mature plants, So next week I will provide some of the replicate groups with pellets and some without.

The current focus is to give all plants a dose of compost tea. This takes time. The tea brewer that i have contains 100 lts, in which I place 2lt of compost. On immature plants 100 litres will cover between 800 and 1000 plants. On the more mature ( planted in 2011) plants this reduces down to 600. Iam still using a back pack sprayer, filling it with 10lts of tea per spraying. I had a problem to start with with the larger particles of compost blocking the sprayer.I have now solved that problem by decanting the tea into buckets and letting it settle for 30 mins before pouring it into the sprayer. A full 100 lt tank of tea is sprayed over the plants in a day.The other job on my list is to prune all dead wood out of the plants. For most, this is a cosmetic excercise. There are a few which although 90% of the plant has died back, there is fresh growth coming from both the lower branches – but also in the upper parts of branches that look completely dessicated. These dessicated plants are occasional, but without exception are individuals surrounded by health plants with no apparent reason for dieback.

Last week I walked the rows and destroyed ( by hand ) 8 nests of vapourer moths. This week as i have been spraying compost tea i have yet again found that I had missed another 5 small webs full of caterpillars that are on the verge of starting to break out onto the branches. Experience from last years showed that these voracious feeders can strip a plant in a week. Reports are that within the National Nature reserve adjacent to the farm these insects have become a major infestation. As small back furry caterpillars they are not palletible for birds.

This week was also highlighted by a trip to Germany to investigate harvesting processing and analysis. Options for freezing the branches are under investigation as the prefered option. I am looking to develop a system that is affordable and simple without a heavy need for capital investment. Branch cutting will mean only taking half the crop this year but it will provide an opportunity to prune out plants into a form that makes future harvesting easier.

I have a design for a berry seperator which will need to be built during the next two months. A simple tool but essential one that utilises components that are similar to parts on harvesters for other berry crops.

Over the past three weeks my laptop has been plagued by a virus. I had not appreciated how aggressive these could be. It regenerated three times before now finally seeming to be destroyed. It makes one wonder what the people that create these viruses find as any justification to inflict them on others. Three weeks without a computer allows for more fieldwork and less office work so there are always some silver linings to gray clouds.

Finally, Nepal is a country that is renoun for its sea buckthorn. The news of the earthquake there carries a resonance as of the fragility of our lives within the natural environment. Living in a country the other side of the world from this crisis it is frustrating not being able to help, and the thoughts of how people recover from such an event are painful. At a time when some politicians talk of reduced aid going to foreign countries, this type of event goes to show how vulnerable we are and how important it is that all countries must work together to reduce the impact of these issues when they happen.

This blog is about sea buckthorn, but it is not possible in the UK at the moment to ignore the forthcoming election. Last night the BBC screened their head to head debate between the opposition parties. Both on this program and the following Question time politicians ignored pleas for direct answers to direct questions. Ben then trawled through the election manifestos of the principle parties. Conservatives offer a lengthy document but this is a wordy document that does not answer the direct questions as to how the government intends to reduce the £1.4 trillion debt the UK finds itself in. The labour party manifesto is short and lacking. By comparison UKIP seem to have done a lot of homework. But for me staying in Europe and being part of it on the inside is still an essential. Sea buckthorn is a European crop with a European community of growers. Not part of the EU would not change this, but at a time when the world is becoming politically unstable maintaining a solid EU block is important. Leaving the EU provides a scenario of change at a time when economic stability is essential. Politics needs to change in the UK, but having survived the potential breakup of the UK last year change needs to be a controlled development not a forced one. As an SME that looks to expansion in the next three years; with a need to work with Europeans; with a need to grow my income and capacity to invest in research; with an eye to both develop new product and export it  I will vote for stability – economic, political, environmental and social.

Europe is not always a friend. EU regulation in the field of nutrition especially in the area of innovation is not constructive. This week figures emerge to indicate that research is moving out of Europe in the area of developing food products which offer digestive health claims. Cost and risk is just too high with an indication that the US is an easier market to work in.

The inference of this pushes companies to rely on consumers to look at the label and ingredients and then go away and research what benefits there might be from specialist product. This is all very well but we are all aware that internet searches can provide results of varied accuracy. Have regulators gone too far? What we need is quality research remaining in Europe, providing consumers with quality innovation that improves diets.  Going back to politics – this blog must come across as repetitive, but politicians do not seem to understand the message that health and nutrition are linked. UK politicians are obsessed with the concept of the NHS, but fail to take on the issue that poor diet delivers a huge amount of custom to the NHS that could be reduced if nutrition was taken seriously.

In developing my sea buckthorn business I recognise that I must deliver consistent quality to my customers. I am told that customers do not care about detail. I believe that they will provide loyalty – or repeat purchase only if the product they buy gives them what they are looking for. Value for money is the key.

So consistency and value are my key targets. As a grower of the crop that will provide some of my product i understand how difficult it is to channel a natural product to be consistent in quality. Controlling this consistency will only come from on-going research to transfer nutrient quality from the plant to the consumer. This research will come at a cost but it adds value to product.

Value in product comes in a number of ways. Sea buckthorn has a capacity to deliver benefits. As a consumer since 2009 of sea buckthorn oil capsules I believe in this. As a family we use it and appreciate it. Those that we talk to about it – try it, take it and commit to it.  Sea buckthorn also has a new taste sensation. Scottish sea buckthorn is carving out a market based on taste in juice, pastries, chocolate. These products are not being sold on the basis of benefit. This is the market of now, but ignoring the benefits that can be derived from sea buckthorn is ignoring hundreds of years of experience.

As functional food and drink companies withdraw their new product focus on europe regulation should not and must not become a barrier to innovation and new product development. Small companies need to be resourceful to deliver product with benefit to consumers. For me, that can mean developing product with exceptional taste, it can also mean recognising the potential offered by the nutritional quality.

Nutritional quality is not a matter of a single analysis of a product. Quality varies in natural products dependent upon environmental factors; how it is processed, manufactured and stored. Understanding these issues requires on-going analysis to recognise how variable individual nutrient concentration might be; the factors playing upon them and whether or whether not one can control them.

Does this matter? Do consumers care? Will it make a difference to the final product?

I would say it does matter. It does matter because consumers want to know that the product they buy is what they expect. Maybe they do not care about every detail, but they do want to know that the supply chain is committed to delivering the best product at the best value for their customer. The issue is about developing and bringing to market a product in which customers trust – delivered by a service which customers appreciate, understand and value.

Going back to where I started – trust; appreciation; understanding and valuing people – that is what I look for in politicians.