There is something very special about this time of year. Cold nights remind you that it is maybe still winter, but as I wandered through the sea buckthorn there were those tell tale signs of spring which shout that a new year is on the way.
This new year is going to be a dynamic one.
Up until now the trials have been developing in size, scale and complexity. In 2012 the plants were establishing and I viewed them as strong and having a capacity to grow whatever the conditions. 2013 there was more maturity but trying to keep weed growth under control was becoming an issue. I wanted to grow without chemicals so the only option was manual and my goodness, manual takes time. Time was not on my time and the weeds out competed the sea buckthorn, plant stress levels became un-sustainable and 40% of the crop fell under a serious attack of fungal disease. 2014 that problem had to be resolved. Resolved it was with the use of mulch and a compost tea brewer. The plants responded with vigour. Stress levels fell, disease did not re-emerge.
The concept works but it was all manual. The compost was shovelled from a trailer behind by car. 60kg per plant and 5000 plants takes a huge amount of time. The compost tea brewer was a great concept start, but having to feed the compost first; then brew the tea, in a machine that could only supply enough for 800 plants at a time created delays so timing of applications was not ideal.
So this year, the priority is for the site to be mechanised. The mulch needs an applicator, which is being designed and built as I write. The compost tea will now be ready made with no brew delay. Having a tractor on site means that my garden mower will go home and a robust tractor mower allow for the intercrop to be cut and controlled. Timely applications means less stress for the plants, and more time for management.
Add to that the advice from Kirsten Jensen from our UK Sea buckthorn event last month – buy a finger weeder to slice out the broad leaved weeds that plague the edge of the mulch strip.
All this together makes 2015 feel like real progress even before it has started.
But in the background there is the concept that this has to turn into a business.
Sea buckthorn is not a crop that will grow without careful management. Harvest is still a challenge – although that is the next project after completion of the mulch applicator. Investment in time, land, plants, machinery, management time all package to a cost.
In consumer terms everyone is looking for value. Value in the amount paid against the benefit the product provides. But value is not just a consumer issue. Value is delivered by a supply chain and is regulated by markets. Excess of supply over demand creates falling prices. When markets were local costs were more direct. Labour costs were comparable. Production costs within a country are impacted by the same energy market; the same competitive transport costs; common regulations. Once one goes global costs are not comparable. Global markets are in some senses good for the consumer because the most efficient producers gain the business that can deliver product at the lowest cost. There can even be environmental gains. Growing fresh food in East Africa and taking advantage of natural sunlight energy outweighs domestic high energy consuming alternatives. But low cost has hidden costs.
Costs of production are only low because values are different. If labour costs are low, it means that people are being paid less – an obvious statement but the result of that is a lower standard of living. if governments subsidise its national traders it means that it is difficult for competing business in other countries to succeed so choice to consumers reduces. If standards of production are lowered to reduce costs then quality becomes variable and for consumers – you get what you pay for. What is alarming is that whereas the global agricultural industry is under pressure to produce value at low cost the products of the industry are becoming an increasing target for crime.
We are told that organised crime is operating in the food supply industry to the global turn of $49 billion. Possibly 10% of US food could be adulterated.
As the global population grows so will the demand for food and this problem will potentially on get worse. This at a time when household budgets are squeezed. The impact of this on the global market is stark when one looks at Fairtrade figures that have fallen 3.7%, reducing the low back to fairtrade producers by £1.67 billion. Fairtrade, as with organic does represent a premium value and in an age of the rise of discount stores these types of traditional value adding, ethical based may be losing touch with the market.
If discount stores are the traders by choice on the High Street for the next ten years then value is not something to be marketed. Value must be inherent in the product. So does that question the need for brands.
Brands represent the value that is not in the product title. Brands represent the connection with the customer and the producer. If the connection is good and delivers value in information and trust then brand has value.
It is the consumer who pays for value and choses what is value. As a producer of sea buckthorn I totally believe that my product has inherent natural value. The job is to show the consumer why my product has value and why they should buy it.