The principle outcome of going to Finland Euroworks was to come away with knowing that demand has now out-striped supply. This is a good issue because it finally shows market movement, although there are some other issues which are impacting on growers. One of my concerns has been that we are growing a crop that the market does not recognise. This is clearly too much a UK perspective. It does provide encouragement to continue to expand planting but there are a number of issues to consider taking this action.
The first workshop at Herrankukkaro concentrated on the sea buckthorn fly. A pest well recognised in Siberia and the Altai region that has a capacity to destroy a significant percentage of a crop by laying eggs in fruit and then feeding off the contents. This has been found in Germany for the first time last year, and a grower from Finland brought a jar of suspect fruit from his farm – so it is spreading. Or maybe it is not spreading but has always been present.
Sea buckthorn is seen as a pioneer plant from Ice Age history. It seems that it is possible that the sea buckthorn fly could have adapted to other host plants as sea buckthorn became rarer. Then as sea buckthorn plantations of commercial varieties expand it has re-found its old host plant. Sea buckthorn fly was recognised in Germany in the 1970s. It would be interesting to circulate to UK foragers whether they have recognised the shrivelled cases of fruit on wild standings.
We were told that a sea buckthorn fly can travel up to 10km, but the point was made that for the fly to make its way from Siberia would take many,many years.
Clearly this is going to be an issue for farmers of sea buckthorn where ever they are, but all crops have pests. The problem comes when it seems that the majority of growers in Europe are organic. The Russians have been trialling sprays and organic systems but these are costly although the potential yield loss balances these costs. One of the principle interventions it would seem could be breasking the life cycle between caterpillar and pupae. Placing a plastic sheet under plants is one concept, but this is very labour intensive. Fleece has been tried in Germany and this sounds like an option that I would try.
The first issue though is to put out orange/yellow sticky traps to identify the flies presence. Traps sunk in the ground below plants can also catch pupae. The fly is small with black and white striped wings and a dot at their end. Numbers can be in the thousands so this can be seen as a threat to 20%+ of the crop.
This yield loss could well be the difference between profit and loss.
One post presentation given at the conference was on economics indicating that there was a loss from a yield of 6500kg/hectare. This is of course dependent upon the major factor of labour costs.
Harvesting is still the important factor to crack. The concept of total cut – when a mechanical harvester cuts the whole bush to 80cm/1m is still the viable mechanical system. It only works with selected varieties and has the disadvantage that the plants can only be harvested every third year. If land prices are high then one has to question the system. It is said that minimum area for viability is 50 hectares to justify capital cost. Placing all these issues together makes me push the option away as impractical. It did occur to me at the conference however that as farmer’s we are happy to spend £250,000 on an arable combine harvester but this is justified by area harvested. If the demand for sea buckthorn is currently outstripping supply then one of these mechanical harvesters could be justified as a co-operatively owned machine for a number of farmers. One might question whether the demand/supply situation is specific to this year, or whether it reflects a market hardening.
I think that the reported investment being made in Mongolia shows a significant amount of supply that will become available within 5-10 years, which in its will provoke a market development. This could be taken as a catalyst to drive the European market, as long as quality creates product differentiation between European and Asian product. This differentiation is key to develop and maintain a price return that reflects European costs.
The presentations on cultivation showed the value in irrigation through dry times. This does not mean full drip lines but the ability to have water to hand when summer weather becomes extreme. This can reduce yield significantly and a mention was made that one hectare of plants could be hand watered in a day. This sounds labour intensive but it is an operation that is exceptional rather than routine.
We also had explained a system of training plants from year one for vertical splitting. This forms the plant so that half the plant is harvested at a time. Branches are cut manually and taken to a cold store for freezing in order to knock the berries off once frozen. The freezing system is the favoured one, but I have a concern that one should look for low energy options if possible. Sea buckthorn is a long term investment and within that time frame markets will probably become more sensitive to environmental impacts of businesses operations. Sustainability is the current focus and within that comes the controlled use of resources ( water and energy ) so harvesting needs to find a control over its resource use.
One real shock presentation was on the Drosophila Suzuki. This fruit fly arrived in 2008 and has swept across southern Europe attacking all native and commercial fruit on its way. That includes soft fruit, vines, I fact anything with a soft skin it can penetrate. This is causing considerable damage. Interestingly though no one could answer whether it attacked sea buckthorn and it is possible that it is attracted more to black and red fruits so maybe we might escape from this new pest from which there is no current protection.
Small plantations are netting. This seems a practical solution which could provide protection on a number of fronts. Sea buckthorn fly, drosophila, aphid and birds. But if mechanical harvesting on a large scale is going to be the way forward then netting becomes impractical/ expensive.
Birds, in the form of starlings and crows were a topic of discussion. Kites could be used. Bangers are on option, although neighbourly relations can be difficult. Shooting requires persistence but with large flocks of small birds this is difficult and in some cases not legal. I am going to try scare crows and possibly an electronic multi-sound system – if cost allows.
In the long term we need to have new varieties that suit the needs of grower and market. Sweet varieties are clearly attractive as for products they will require less use of sugar to balance taste. Sweetness may well attract the sea buckthorn fly. Size of berry and the ability to remove it from the plant are both issues for ease of harvesting. For small plantations a large berry is easier to pick as long as it has a stalk that allows access to the berry rather than it being tightly packed into a cluster. Nutrients are still an issue. No one is pointing a finger at particular advantage for nutrient groups, although a new product was presented – Flavo C, which combines vitamin C and a flavonoid combination in a pill form. Nutrients are something that we can influence with harvesting times but it seems to me that there as many individual nutrients that decrease with ripeness as there are those that increase. So as a grower it is still probably better to focus on picking to optimum ripeness.
Varieties are always an issue. I have planted German; Finnish; Latvian; Altai from Siberia. Latvian are doing very well, but have a thorn issue. German similarly have been successful, but some varieties I favour over others for taste. Finnish I think are more suited to their own climate. It was suggested that I try some Swedish varieties, and possibly Russian as opposed to Altai. In the back of my mind I have the concept that yield must be reliable and large enough to be profitable. Altai plants are reported to provide 10-20kg per plant, so that is what drove my initial interest. The issue that some hardly go dormant at all in my mild climate may turn out to be a problem, which is why it has been suggested that Russian varieties might be more suitable.
The problem is that my farm will become more like a garden and less like a farm, but selection of the best varieties is key to viability. With this in mind I am inviting a Swedish sea buckthorn organic agronomist over in February to have a good look at my plants and make some sense out of the decision making process.
I am going to conclude this section on Euroworks and write another blog on the topic of standards which was the focus of the third workshop.
The first two workshops – on pest/diseases & cultivation techniques resulted in the formation of focus groups to investigate these matters further once the conference was over. With the market demanding more fruit it is key that growers network together and meet the challenges of improving yield. Successful agronomy is an essential to attracting more growers to plant sea buckthorn. Without more growers it will be difficult to meet growing market needs.
