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Progressing to viability

britishseabuckthorn

I started this year to subscribe to the Fruit Grower magazine. The trade magazine for the UK fruit industry. There is some commonality with other farming magazines – the worry about the economics of farming within a global economy.
Costs are higher in Western Europe, but that is not the only issue. It is clear that profitable farming comes from the ability to minimise costs through the use of technology; labour saving systems; systems that monitor disease and pest risk management; modern varieties and so on. The ability to employ best practice looks to optimise yield. But that comes with the access to being able to fund these specialist systems.
Yield is not the only issue. Optimum yield also means optimum quality. Quality standards targeting uniformity in size, colour, lack of blemish can generate both waste of perfectly edible product, but also reduce profitability.
Technology and systems that generate optimum output need to be matched by reducing natural variables such as poor weather and soils.

So I reflect this with my developing sea buckthorn crop. Yield claims for Siberian – and other varieties come from results achieved within their country of origin. The soils and climate offer the optimum environment in which local wild stock has been adapted to reduce growing challenges and create commercial viability.

Take these plants out of their environmental comfort zone and there is no guarantee of predicting either yield or quality. At Devereux farm it is already clear that there are some varieties that are accepting the change of soil and climate. My heavy soil is an unfair challenge, but alternatively providing stress is sometimes a means to improving berry quality. It is unlikely though that my soil will produce optimum yield.
Having said that my Habego plants have produced yields in excess of 9kg, but disappointingly this is not consistent across all plants.

Lack of consistency I would put down to poor drainage and a high water table in the winter. The use of both compost and compost tea has been very successful in reducing disease, but the success of this requires correct timing of applications. This has been a problem as applications have been by very manual input which is both slow and poor in productivity. 2015 will change all this as the development of a bespoke compost applicator; purchase of tractor sprayer for compost tea; mower will allow the delivery of a planned programme of management which I expect the plants to respond to. I also will look to gradual improvement in soil structure to improve plant growth. The final result being a berry crop.

The disease problems of 2013 lead to many plants being prematurely pruned so across the site there are different plants in different stages of growth. 2015 will provide a first crop from the Siberian plants but as a first crop this will provide no idea of potential yield. I hope it will however provide an indication of quality.

Hence the plan for this year is to analyse berries from the Siberian plants and compare the results against an analysis of European grown sea buckthorn as a standard.
This was the plan for last year, but the crop was lost to birds. If 2013 was the year that raised the challenge to beat disease, then 2014 showed that pest control is as important. 2015 I have a number of ideas for bird control. As a first crop it must be a quality crop. Then as the plants mature we will see whether we can achieve an optimum yield within the constraints of Devereux’s soil and climate.

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2015 – sea buckthorn management becomes a whole compost load easier

britishseabuckthorn

Today has not been a spectacular day, but actually also quite a milestone.

If you have followed this blog you might have come across the frustration of compost. Back in 2013 fungal disease hit the Siberian plants. Many suffered branch dieback losing single or multiple branches. Advice at the time was anything from prune the branches off to cut the plants down. Some I pruned all the branches back to the main stem; some I cut to the ground. Those with the latter treatment died. The pruned back plants have recovered, but as young plants they have lost time and energy when they should have been establishing themselves.
The following year I started to use green waste compost. Approximately 30kg around each plant, together with monthly sprayings of compost tea.

The combination cured all signs of the fungal disease. The problem was that without a tractor the compost was put out from a single axle trailer pulled behind my trusty Peugeot car. The process was slow – so slow that there was not enough time to get all the plants composted.
This year I borrowed a larger trailer, towed by a John Deere gator. This sped up the process and allowed a 13 ton lorry load to be shovelled in a day. Unfortunately again because this started in September and October was the month of the Euroworks conference in Finland – yet again the job was not completed before ground conditions became too wet to drive on.

So what was so special about today? It might not sound exciting but I had a long phone call from Stephen Eyles, an agricultural engineer who is going to design and build a compost applicator which will be towed by an orchard tractor. The design has to take into account the need for low ground pressure; varied application rates and as plants are of different sizes; also take account of the compost bridging when in the trailer preventing free flow to the spinner that will direct the compost to the row. The conversation gave me every confidence that this spring all 5000 plants will get their required dose. Furthermore, the tractor will provide the motive power for a sprayer so that I no longer will need to apply compost tea with a backpack. The result will be timely applications and more time for plant management.
So if nothing else happens in 2015, plant health should take a giant leap forward.

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Klaudia does it again

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The evidence
The evidence
January 5th and it is the Lisavenko Siberian variety Klaudia again being the first to break bud. This has become the norm at Devereux farm although last year it was ten days later. It does not seem to affect the plant. We have had a few frosts in the past ten days, but only down to -3 deg C, with daytime temperatures up to 14 deg. It will have to be seen whether these new leaves will be damaged by frost as the month progresses.
Although temperatures have been mild rain has not. This weekend saw another 37mm, so the ground is very soft, but every cloud has a silver lining – it makes weeding easy.
Happy New Year
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New Year – New Plans – Open Day at Devereux Farm

britishseabuckthorn

With the New Year comes a whole new list of “to dos” in 2015.

From a growing perspective I have a new site at Devereux farm that I want to establish. I have had a conversation with a German colleague suggesting that a high capital intensive site planted with Habego has produced 300 tons off 25 hectares in year 4. Clearly there are some variables to check out – numbers of plants per hectare. As ever harvesting is also an issue. If this is mechanically harvested then what are the costs of the machine/ or was the crop hand branch cut.
Costs of production are key in western Europe. We need to produce gross margin figures under different systems so that we can compare systems.

Cost brings on the subject of income. Sea buckthorn growing has costs and it is labour intensive. Like top fruit, it has a number of years of to mature before returning an income. These issues need to be considered and compared to a conventional crop such as wheat to establish the viability of the crop. Farmers as primary producers often have their income set against world prices regardless of costs of production. World prices distort value as labour costs vary. Markets and consumers also have different local demands. Consumer demand for quality is key. Tastes vary from country to country. Prices paid across the retail counter relate to market demand and development. All too often retail price seems to be detached from farm production costs. If sea buckthorn is to establish itself as a UK crop it needs to be viable to the grower. Short supply chains and direct contact with the consumer allows for an understanding of value – the value that the consumer is prepared to pay, against the costs of production. Sea buckthorn is not a volume production but heaven forbid the time when like milk, the income to farmers is below the cost of production.

Costs are an issue that I want to explore at our open day at Devereux farm on February 14th. Kirsten Jensen is coming over from Sweden as an organic sea buckthorn agronomist to provide information on practical issues. I want to explore the issues of which varieties might be best for the UK. Then there is the discussion as to what is sea buckthorn – a fruit that might compete against the red berry market, or can it establish itself on its health credentials.
If anyone reading this would like to come, email British Sea Buckthorn Co Ltd. – at my email address – cottonmist.eagle@virgin.net

Happy New Year

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2015 – The year of the coming of natural ingredients

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As 2014 comes to a close, nest year will finally bring the first crop from my Siberian sweeter varieties. As a crop emerges I need to consider product development.
Food Matters Live event exposed the concept that consumers are not interested in reading labels. They are looking for food and drink product that tastes great and is good for them. Why it is good for them is not relevant. It is the responsibility of the producer to ensure that this is credible. Social media has a capacity to spread the word as to what consumers think. Fact needs to be solid enough to stand up to sceptical dialogue. Product needs to deliver consistently to gain trust and build brand credibility.
So it was also interesting that Health Ingredients Europe also delivers a message that the days of fortified functional foods is giving way to natural ingredients. Using natural ingredients to fortify a product is more acceptable to consumers than just providing a nutrient to inject some “goodness” to provide functionality.

This brings back the concept of complexity and synergy. Natural products are multi nutrient carriers. The concept of fortifying with a single nutrient follows the pharmaceutical route. A single nutrient with science based evidence of providing a health benefit should be more credible than a natural ingredient which by its nature is difficult to analyse and define for health benefit.
But I would suggest that consumers are wary of processed foods. The western world has significant dietary problems. It would be too simple to say this is the result of too much processed foods. It is not, as there are social and economic issues as well. But perception is often as great a market leader as fact. Natural means a product of nature – not of human design. Interestingly Beehive marketing in the US stated at Food Matters Live that the concept of “natural” carries little weight in the US. But the UK and US markets are different.

So if natural is a strength in the marketplace, then this is a great time for sea buckthorn. The market trusts nature. The consumer expects healthy food and drink. Sea buckthorn is a natural product that for centuries has been recognised as delivering health.

The logic then is that sea buckthorn is the right product, at the right place, and the right time. The problem is that is a simple statement. At the Health Ingredients event in Amsterdam Julian Mellentin, a long standing and very well respected trend-spotter stated – “you cannot educate consumers about ingredients” – it is a crowded market. You have to “Find what they believe in and how they connect with it”. So the fact the sea buckthorn is healthy and natural does not guarantee success.

Success will come from understanding consumer concerns and matching them with what sea buckthorn can deliver.

I have been looking into analysis of sea buckthorn. What concerns me in this undertaking is that sea buckthorn is not a single entity. Each species; each sub-species; each localised environment; each commercial variety all offer different nutritional profiles or concentration limits of nutrients. Analysis will not deliver a generic answer.

The answer is tailoring product to consumer. Understanding that product must deliver specific requirements and being able to prove the pathway that ingredients within a product can deliver that requirement.

This is not easy. It requires time and resources. But without dedicating time and resources to prove that you know that a product matches consumer demand, how long will it be before your product is exposed by sceptical consumers who have multiple choices to select within the retail world.

Happy Christmas to all.

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Confused about sugar – but some valuable advice on the way

britishseabuckthorn

The pace of life is fast and that is a modern phenomenon. It is this that has pervaded everything we do. Mobiles make to accessible at all times; emails create instant access; food manufacturers provide food on the go; transport links make it possible to travel further, faster and more frequently. All these come at a price.
Decisions you make need thought, need time. Our politicians are pressured continuously by media to respond to each and every problem as it arises. What do we end up with, but invariably with knee jerk reactions which are shallow and not well thought through, or overly bureaucratic and draconian.

At the Food Matters Live event there were two presentations given on juice. Juice is currently under scrutiny from different agendas. There are those who are pushing teeth management products who suggest that juice attacks tooth enamel – therefore it is bad.
There is the current drive to lower fat, sugar and salt which clearly is well founded in an attempt to reverse trends of obesity, diabetes and cardio vascular disease, but all sugar is not always a problem.
Juice has natural sugar in it. Diet and nutrition is complex. Sugars bound in fibre within fruit are a composite package, not a simple nutrient that threatens us when it is in excess.
It is clear that food manufacturers have to be responsible in product design to conform with the need to improve the health of the national diet, but similarly responses need to be well thought out.

In my last blog I mentioned the Norden Scandanavian group of countries have created a nutrition plan. The statement that they see their food as being “just food” is I think pertinent to where food manufacturers should be heading.
I have heard of a response to reducing sugar in juice to result in the removal of natural sugar and replacement with artificial sweetners. In my view this is nothing but complete madness. Taste is always said to be the most important issue when designing a food product, but as political and industry focuses on health should natural nutritional value not come before taste.
I believe in the values created by farming organically but not slavishly. I see the nutritional value provided by natural ingredients as having the best potential to interact with the human body to deliver a balanced diet. Start chopping it up and removing naturally occurring nutrients and you mess with the capacity to deliver an optimum outcome in terms of the body utilising the nutrients available.
Maybe this is a very unscientific statement, but I am not convinced that we understand the full complexity of how nutrients work together; the levels and reasons for bioavailability in the body; the efficiency of absorption under different states of health. There are so many variables.
That is why I see it as essential that one tries to grow food commodities, focusing on nurturing their nutritional strengths. The components that create the unique strengths in a food commodity need taking through the processing system in as complete a state as possible so the consumer benefits from those naturally occurring nutrient.
As is understandable, this is a farmer’s view. There are many multi national companies undertaking R&D on the delivery of healthy food incorporating targeted ingredients created as a result of extensive trials. The validity of this work is underwritten by the question – how do we feed a growing population in the world?
Again my blog has wandered away from sea buckthorn but I consider these deviations to be valid as sea buckthorn is a food. It is more than just a food, as its nutrient content gives it a potential to act as a supplement as well as a food. It also needs to be relevant for the market place – a market place which is changing to become conscious of the health of its customers.

All the plants in the plantation are now dormant. the current job at the moment is digging out broad leaved weeds that are close to plants. The ground conditions being so soft makes this operation easy. Being soft it also means that the plants are susceptible to wind damage. Whereas last year I was using 18/20 lb 4ft bamboo canes to provide added support, those plants that need support will have a 25mm square wood post. It is a problem with clay soil that, when soft it provides little support for the main stem.

Winter management also requires pruning of young plants. I have looked at manuals and there are a number of ways of pruning. I also see wide variation in the growth habits of different varieties. I decided last year that I needed advice on this, so at the euroworks conference in Finland I asked a highly respected agronomist, Kirsten Jensen, whether she would come to England to show me how to sort this pruning problem out.
Discussions at the conference also raised the subject of the suitability of varieties. Devereux farm already has 24 different female varieties. The German varieties are now maturing having been planted in 2009. Their yield is growing but not stable yet – last year the best tree gave a yield of over 12kg, others however only 4kg.
The Latvian plants look healthy and strong, but some have thorns that need respecting.
The Siberian varieties will be producing their first crop this year, but it is unclear as to what the impact will be of transferring them from an environment with a prolonged very cold winter to a winter where temperatures only occasionally dip below freezing.
Suggestion in Finland where that varieties from other Russian states might be more suited to our very temperate climate.
So as a result Kirsten has agreed to come to the farm in mid February.
There is now a plan brewing to turn the visit into an event. There is growing interest in sea buckthorn in the UK, so I am planning to hold an event to explore and discuss the development of UK sea buckthorn. This would cover some of the topics raised at Euroworks, such as harvesting, pests and diseases; a practical walk around the plantation with Kirsten to look at pruning and plant management issues; the opportunities and challenges of developing the market.
The date will probably be around the weekend of February 14/15 2015. Any one interested should contact me on my email – cottonmist.eagle@virgin.net.

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New Nordic Nutrition – following an inspiring path for the future

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Several years ago the new Nordic cuisine emerged, with the inspiration cooking and innovative ingredients bought to the world by the likes of Rene Redsepi. There followed the MAD organisation with its bringing together of inspirational community of chefs, farmers and cooks. This gathering has taken the subject of food to all levels of what it means, does and can do for everyone at a level that it socially and culturally creative at the highest level.
At a more governmental level there is growing understanding of obesity as a problem that has to be tackled as it absorbs significant proportion of national health service budgets.
At the Food Matters Live conference one seminar described the principle problem of the recession as not being money but being more down to happiness. A lack of happiness can trigger a desire to treat on foods that are comforting. Sugar and fat often come into this and the food manufacturing industry clearly needs to look to its responsibility for providing consumers with processed foods that may be convenient but do not contribute to a balanced diet. Of course food needs to go together with physical exercise to provide a healthy body but clearly politicians have an issue in that government diet advice just does not seem to be heard.
Maybe though food and exercise are not just the only issues. The Nordic countries have come together again with another initiative. The New Nordic Nutrition plan make two interesting statements – it wants its food to be just food – by which one has to assume pure ingredients, and utilised in a way that takes their qualities through to the consumer without degrading. But the second comment is that nutrition is a narrative of health; environment; society and culture.
Food on the go does not inspire social activity. It allows a fast multi-activity lifestyle or commitment to work. Ruminants graze but that is done slowly and continuously without rushing from pillar to post. Processed foods are constructed by others and may have a relevance to culture and tradition but they do not involve much understanding nor commitment by the consumer. Is this important? Maybe superficially it does not because it allows people to get on with keeping up with a busy lifestyle, but maybe that is the issue. Food is not just a fuel. It comes from an environment that needs to be kept healthy or else its soils will become less and less able to deliver without the use of more and more intervention to provide plants with artificial fertilisers and chemical controls on pests and diseases. The impact of intervention on biodiversity might seem trivial. Within all environments there are symbiotic relationships between species that we just do not understand. We destroy these for short term gain and there is no going back.
The Nordic nutrition statement includes the social issue because there is a huge value in people interacting with each other. Giving each other time. Time that shares respect, love; problem solving, pressure release – slowing down. Something that we are encouraged to ignore in the modern world.
Culture we are told is important. In the UK we have our heritage; our cities of culture; our regional identify. all these do inspire people, but many of these are big issues that do not actively involve the individual. Food involves people. Making good food for someone else is more than just a routine to maintain the system – or it should be. Food involves collecting good ingredients that are chosen because they have taste and quality in order that the final dish is good – or it should be. Food has a local or regional, or even national identity. We can probably all relate to food that our parents have cooked for us. All these are part of our culture. They make up what we are. That our adage of – we are what we eat.
Maybe we should all be following the Nordic nutrition principles.
That is a whole blog without mentioning sea buckthorn – but then sea buckthorn itself has many cultural attachments across Europe and Asia. Its nutritional roots are what make it intriguing. Turning it into fine dining dishes is what the Nordic cuisine has achieved but its attraction is in its wide diversity of use that drives us at Devereux farm.

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Food Matters Live – a mind boggling brain teaser

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Attenting any event for three days is a commitment but Food matters Live last week was a risk, but well worth it. The focus for me was the seminars which started at 10.30 and went through to 1700 with too many options for one person. It only worked with a clear understanding as to what one wanted to get out of the day. Seminars of 20 mins on marketing; cognitive benefits; cardio vascular benefits were my focus for the three days. Including some time visiting stands I attended between 6 and 8 seminars each day. The results were often conflicting and raised some interesting conclusions. One has to conclude that this is the difference between Food and Pharma, there are no fixed lines. In fact sea buckthorn itself is not a single commodity. Sea buckthorn appears in its six species/ 12 (13) subspecies and many commercial varieties. Taste, nutrition status, journey to market all impact on the delivery of the final product.

The whole concept of the event recognises the potential of the food industry to have the potential to deliver more nutritionally sophisticated product. But the nature of the market has changed. The health market has changed. Consumers are more cynical, more value conscious. The 2008 economic crash has impacted upon how people behave. Labels might be a source that regulators want to clarify, but it seems consumers actually are just not impressed. Health priority has given way to the need to lift doom and gloom – people need to be happy, and that does not mean being preached to by well meaning governments, doctors are marketeers.
Market demographics seem also to have gone out of the window. The aging population which should in theory be our market is now mainly digitally savvy; only has a perceived age because lifestyle changes opportunity and choice; and again cynicism, rational not emotional decision making makes it crucial that products meet market demand.
At the other end of the extreme, the 19-23 age group (Millenials) offer a fast moving and demanding opportunity. One that needs commitment, understanding where company must be embedded into the market. Health means little – product must be relevant with an acceptance of the identity that comes with it. The commitment to engage with this end of the market needs to right attitude. It carries a risk that if the millenials do not get it, they will ignore you and move on. But that is with all markets.

One seminar was presented by the inventor of Brainwave – a drink with ingredients targeted on maintaining cognitive function.
In a regulated age this is a brave product. It comes without EFSA claims and clearly Richard Baister is frustrated with the system that makes it so difficult for a small company to crack this issue. But his advice was clear – even if it does not have a claim, there needs to be clear evidence to back up the product.
This was reiterated in other talks – science needs to support product in this market. It stands to reason that in a cynical, budget led market where consumers have huge choice, they need to know what they want to use the product for and that it will deliver.

Apart from the seminars, exhibits of interest included labs for analysis; institutes for training; associations for finding professional advice; and a selection of new products. For me the first three all delivered promising ways of building the resources needed for developing sea buckthorn.

What have I learnt? Success will come based on delivering product that the market wants. Nothing has changed. The risk is more about controlling one’s passion for the product in development and making sure consumers of what ever age will accept its ability to deliver at the price they want to pay.

Will I go next year? Definitely, but it is a commitment and next year I want to go to the Taste event in London as well.