Back in January an action plan came together of priority projects that would help to develop the sea buckthorn farming project at Devereux farm. Harvesting has always been seen as a major barrier to growing sea buckthorn. There are options open to the larger growers, such as the Kranneman sea buckthorn harvesting system. This is a self propelled machine that cuts the branches off the top of the plants at approximately one metre off the ground. Its work rate is actually governed not by its rate of travel but by the processing system that it feeds.
Going to see the Kraneman in operation and understanding the whole german harvesting and processing method was identified as a key objective for 2015. Reports from Scandinavia had already suggested that their sea buckthorn harvest was late due to a cold spring. The harvest in Germany is also late. But for the farm that runs the harvester that we wanted to go and see, their reason was a very dry spring and summer.( My UK sea buckthorn has also behaved unpredictably as the Sirola that I had expected ripening in July, was not harvested until the first three weeks of August).
It was this week therefore that Matt and I had the opportunity to go to see the full harvesting operation.
The farm is located an hour and a half drive south of Berlin. Its operations are undertaken on a scale which makes Devereux farm pale into insignificance. One field being twice the size of our arable enterprise. Grain stores with capacity for 10s of thousands of tons. A diary herd of 600 cows. But it was the sea buckthorn that we went to see.
The harvester is as impressive as it sounds but as an integral part of a system it is the processing that is of real interest. A five person team run a system that sees the cut branches sorted and clipped into size on a conveyor that enters a nitrogen freezing tunnel probably of some 9m in length. The branches emerge with berries crisply frozen and branches frosted. A vibrating bed is raked across by rotating drums fitted with spine rods that pull the branches across the bed, shattering the berries from the wood and pulling the fruitless branches away to a waste bin.
The berries, freed from the branch still retain clumps of twig and leaf. A series of sieves start the process of removing this trash, before the berries are conveyed up to a cyclon extractor fan. This sucks the leaf away from the berries diverting the fruit finally up on the final conveyor into a 300kg bin. The whole system capable of processing 2.5 tons of berries a day.
The process is as impressive as it sounds but as with all farming the weakness in the system is still down to reliance on the weather for berry quality.
Poor rainfall had resulted in small berries which also gripped the branches tightly despite the freezing. In consequence the waste branches still carries away berries. Clumps of berries, knocked off their host branch managed to work their way through each part of the process without breaking up. The result being a bin that had more leaf in it than clearly would be normal.
Quality is a factor we all aspire too and markets demand. In this case the next stage for these berries will be to be washed. All unwanted leaf and wood waste removed as part of the preparation for pulping in the juice or puree making process. Blending of varieties allows balancing of quality so that the consumer is presented with product of a standard type.
So returning to the UK I look at the options for a small scale sea buckthorn growing operation. In particular i relate to the issue that it takes six years for these plants to reach peak yield. If you have little or no income for capital investment in harvesting technology then the options have to look to one aim – A quality sample of large, trash free berries. Quality also means safe, so any process has to be designed to be clean and without risk of contamination, following through the principles of HACCP ( Hazard Analysis Critical Control points). This is of no real interest to the consumer who expects their end product to be of standard quality. Growers operate within the natural environment, not an asceptic one. It is essential that buyers in the supply chain are confident that production processes, including harvesting minimises risks of contamination.
Hand harvesting I have rejected as being very difficult to achieve this quality standard. The slow pace of development of the sea buckthorn plant gives time to understand the issues to both comply with HACCP and deliver quality. Small scale allows for greater concentration of effort to guarantee quality. Speed of process is important so that fruit is harvested at optimum ripeness.The trip to Germany indicates the critical need to balance harvesting capacity against facilities to remove berries from the branches. 2015 is presenting the learning issues to perfect a cut and freezing process with a HACCP compliance on an affordable small scale. 2016 will be an economically significant harvest as the whole plantation matures – but it will be the first with the right facility for the right product for the right market.