This summer the sea buckthorn harvest at Devereux farm was as much a process of investigation as a process of production. Farming normally concentrated on the production of commodity crops. The crop is harvested and stored within a well understood process. Storage is a matter of creating a controlled environment to maintain quality, together with the exclusion of all pests that might damage or contaminate the crop.
Sea buckthorn is much the same, except both the harvesting and storage process is not standardised. A lack of standard process means that each year will involve some trial; some error and continuous review and improvement.
One of the tasks I have been reviewing is defining our harvest and post harvest processes in order to achieve full HACCP accreditation. This is a critical analysis of how we will produce and deliver consistent safe standards when delivering fruit for customers.
There is a level where critical analysis starts to become paranoia – each activity being given a full risk analysis to define what should be the best solution to an identified problem. The goal from my perspective is to show a potential customer that all our produce and product will be free from contamination from pest, soil, disease, chemical, or mechanical damage. Furthermore that when they use our produce they can be 100% confident that it will be safe to pass onto their customers.
Going through this process, and putting it this way one starts to believe that there are risks around every activity. In reality the risks are probably very small, but apart from the fact that one wants to produce high quality product the analytical risk assessing process does reveal the full complexity of what we need to do.
As small producers we are not going to be looking for highly mechanised systems. Simple has to be the solution. Affordability has to be the principle criteria, but always looking to achieve the same goal of consistent safe produce to create confidence in our market.
Harvest speed is a primary aim. Aiming to harvest branchlets off the field and into the chill store within an hour is the goal. Reducing the risk of harvesting unripe; damaged or less than perfect fruit is essential. Harvesting branchlets of the right size to maximise efficiency in processing will reduce energy and waste. As we are using freezing as the core process to remove berries from the branchlets, temperature control is a factor from the moment the branchlet is cut.
One of the principle lessons from harvest 2015 was how much birds love the Siberian variety berries. 2016 these varieties will be netted. A significant undertaking across the whole site.
Having visited a cherry farm this week to understand how one nets a whole field, other pests came to mind. The sea buckthorn fly and spotted wing fruit fly – apart from the vapourer moth caterpillars that have made their presence known all too often.
Controlling the flies is normally a process of chemical spray. These insect shave a capacity to destroy 50% of the crop. The normal process is to use chemicals. This is something I really want to avoid. There are some methods of breaking the life cycle of these flies through non-chemical means, so remaining chemical free might be possible. On that basis 2016 should be the year Devereux farm sea buckthorn goes organic. The reason for not doing it has been financial up until now. Certification is another cost. Until the crop starts to create an income all spending has to be made in order of priority.
It seems that most of the development of our sea buckthorn crop keeps on a single track – a focus on the need to produce quality.
Quality will be the focus of developing the HACCP process but there needs to be a parallel outcome of this development. That being defining what we mean by quality.