Tag: sea buckthorn

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David’s February Sea Buckthorn Field Update

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January as usual is the month when we start to see some of our sea buckthorn plants breaking bud. Practically at the moment we are focusing on pruning all of the plants and we are aiming to complete this by the end of February. Alongside this the youngest plantation is being weeded and all plants that have been windblown will be given a stake to straighten them up. Wind has been a problem for smaller and younger plants that have not fully established roots. I think this also results from strong gusting winds that we have on the coast. Although it is not a big problem it is now important that these plants are straightened so they do not snag on the tractor and Ladurna cultivator – which excitingly should be arriving next week.

Pruning also allows a focus on which varieties are best suited to our farm. This year we will be ordering some more plants from Siberia (also exciting). Of the ten varieties on site we need to be focusing on those that yield best; have the right taste and size of berry; and have a more compact shape for ease of management. Interestingly our first discussions with buyers indicate that varieties with different distinctive taste may have different culinary uses, so our selection of varieties will need to be concentrating on best product suitability.

Product suitability was flagged up this week in articles from a French company – Superfruiticals, who have been working with sea buckthorn for ten years. Sea buckthorn’s anti-oxidant properties are often quoted. Superfruiticals are showing how the amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins all combine to produce a real anti-microbial activity that can be used as a natural preservative often doubling the shelf life of products. They have developed products for use as meat preservatives that replace E number ingredients that are also more cost effective than other natural alternatives such as rosemary. Sea buckthorn is so often quoted for its use in cosmetics and supplements but this shows another example of its versatility as a natural replacement for formulated ingredients used in food production.

Superfruiticals also mentions the potential in sea buckthorn leaf. The harvesting system that we are designing will create sea buckthorn leaf as a by-product. Its nutrient content is different to the berry but just as complex. Research has indicated its potential in animal feeds and this will be a subject for investigation this year.

 

David

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Technology and people power solutions

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February is here and finally pruning 3000  Siberian plants was finished. Removing dead twig; low branches; and bringing plants down to a manageable height has resulted in a mountain of prunings. Each variety showed its character. Klaudia demanded more pruning as its habit to grow squat and sprawling makes mowing difficult without damaging low branches. The opposite is Inya, growing tall and straight without bushiness. Then Chuiskaya, whose size now bulks out ahead of all others. Elizaveta, whose fast growing habits in our different climate resulted in branch die back leaving plants tall but thin. Time to experiment and practice has resulted in developing management techniques so each of these varieties are adapting to our climate and soils. All of these developments come from simple observations of the characteristics of each variety. Observation is important but recording this monitoring so information can be used to develop management systems is another.

One of the presentations at the Oxford Real farming conference was by a vine grower, using a plant monitor system – sectormentor. Giving selected plants an electronic tag and using an old iphone to record plant condition traits provided a simple system that looked ideal for my sea buckthorn. This will build up a concept of which varieties are performing best and where problems need to be managed. It will remove the problem of observations being subjective and kept in a record system which is easy to analyse.

February is still cold with temperatures fluctuating from freezing to up to 8 deg C. Our old friend Klaudia has again been the first to show some leaves. Over a month later than last year Klaudia buds are breaking open across the field. It has started the process of planning the first application of compost tea. It needs a good showing of young leaf to make it worthwhile. Last year, the males plants that are essential for pollination, came into the spring in really poor condition. Poor pollination resulted in few berries, something I had to address for 2017. With pollination starting in April, being able to boost the plants to optimum health is essential. Once enough leaf is present across the field then first compost tea feed will be applied and each month until before harvest.

With thoughts of pollination, come thoughts about harvest – and how to solve the problem of birds. The old traditional method would have been to shoot them. Last year I bought a netting system which will cover two blocks of the plants. But hungry birds still find a way in under the netting. I have now tried kites, rockets, scare crops, flashing tapes, CDs on strings – all to no avail.

Technology is changing our lives daily and it is to technology that i have turned for a solution for birds eating my precious sea buckthorn berries.

The manufacturer of my compost tea brewer, Martin Lishman and developed an electronic bird scarer. It can be programmed to scare different bird species and provides cover for an area of around 300m. This farm scale tool has three directional speakers that emit warning sounds to pest birds to make them believe they are being threatened by a predator. A large investment, but a practical more ethical solution to keep the birds off the sea buckthorn crop . A tool that along with the timing of the  compost tea provides confidence for a good 2017 berry harvest.

Confidence is essential, but the future is never certain. On Tuesday I went to a Climate change meeting at Westminster Hall, London. When I go to these events I have to ask myself why. Is it simple interest or will something real come out of it? With Brexit and Trump creating uncertainty, focus on climate change may slip down the political agenda. The elections in EU States in 2017 add to the uncertainty. Understanding where these arguments are going has a material impact on the farm.

The farm has 5 kilometres of sea wall protecting it from sea flooding. The walls, rebuilt after the 1953 flood, have seen two serious surge tides recently – 2013 and January 2017. Whether it is global warming or climate change means little. What is important is unpredictable events are becoming more frequent. The surge tides threaten the very existence of my family’s farm. The impact of our emissions into the atmosphere has been tracked by science for decades. Every year since the millenium year we have had major flood events in the UK. Something is changing and it’s not for the better. The farm is at risk from this change and maybe politicians are key to regulating our lives to slow the process.

I came away from Westminster with some confidence – but not from hearing about political decision making. The message was that major international businesses are changing their operations to reduce environmental impact. This is not driven by regulation but by their customers demanding change and the fear they might buy from some one else – real people power. The second message was that clean technology in  energy, transport construction, and appliances is becoming a reality. Third, whereas mature economies have to change their old technologies, new growing economies will invest directly into efficient energy systems. Economics not politics is finally driving change – and I for one felt more confident that our world has a chance to manage the climate on which we rely to live.

 

having heard all four speakers at the event more buoyant than I expected. Business opportunity from green issues and new, non carbon based technology was moving ahead fast and seen soon to become a reality. It was also interesting to hear that Africa was in a strong position as having the potential to adopt new clean technology without having invested deeply in old carbon based alternatives  . What will happen in China we will have to see but their commitment in Paris made a powerful statement.

Our UK farming industry is seriously turning to putting soil health at the heart of its workings. An industry that has been a target of criticism for not caring for the environment painted a broad picture ignoring the many, many farmers who feel they are custodians of their land.

 

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A chill New Year warmed by global research.

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Some things are predictable, some are less so. Since Christmas, the weather at Devereux farm  has been characterised by regular nightly frosts – up to -5 deg C. This is a 100% reversal of our night weather in 2015/16. Then, following a sustained incredibly mild period the buds on the Devereux farm sea buckthorn plants started to spring to life on December 31st. The reversal to winter weather this year has had an impact on this particular Siberian variety (Klaudia), which possibly should be predictable. The first terminal buds on Klaudia emerged on January 20th 2017.

How this will effect the plants and their potential harvest we will have to wait and see, but each of our 10 different Siberian varieties are developing differently.

The current task is to complete pruning. This is a time consuming job. It can also be disheartening. Our field trials are indicating the importance of soil type. The trials were planted in four blocks – each with different planting parameters. The “A” rows, planted in 2012, cross over ground that used to grow a good crop of wild oat weeds when the field was used purely for arable cropping. This area specifically is proving to be a problem for the sea buckthorn. Rows A11-A15 have had considerable plant losses. This week I have had to cut out six plants in rows A14/A15 that are now maturing to large plants, but have died. After four years this is really frustrating. Even more so as there is little chance of finding out why the plants have died. These are individuals where adjacent plants are fit and healthy. I suspect it is a soil based problem. On Tuesday Ben and I are going to a day course on soil. This will present a chance to take a sample of the soil from around these dead plants and see if it is possible to identify a reason for losing these plants so dramatically.

Developing a depth of knowledge is what science is all about. I do not believe there is such a thing as constant fact, as new research keeps improving on understanding more about the world we live in. This week was highlighted by the publication of a piece of research in the journal “Trends in Food Science and Technology” published by Elsevier on the net.

Sea buckthorn as a natural berry has been accepted in traditional medicines as providing health benefits for centuries across northern Europe and Asia. Every year there are research papers published, but for these works to be accepted in European science journals they have to be of a high, peer reviewed standard. For health benefit research to be accepted as credible it needs to have been centred around working with human patients and with recognised methodology so it can be compared like with like with other studies.

This week an article in “Nutraingredients.com” covered a meta-analysis of over 3000 research papers, reducing down to 11 human studies. Meta-analyses is a comprehensive analysis of research papers to find comparisons that build evidence that there is a consistent result appearing across multiple pieces of research. This is often the first step when assessing whether larger specific studies are going to be worthwhile. In fact British Sea buckthorn sponsored just such an analysis undertaken by the Medical Research Council here in the UK in 2014. Funding research is never easy, particularly in niche fields of study. In Europe sea buckthorn is grown across Europe on a small scale compared with other fruit crops. Funding for research is competitive and available only where it will develop into large scale pharmaceutical benefit. Hence research is centred where there is a tradition of using the crop on a wider scale – China, Russia, India, with Germany and Scandinavia adding to the global pool of knowledge.

The research paper in question is entitled – “Effect of Sea buckthorn on blood lipid profiles: A systematic review and meta-analysis from 11 independent randomised controlled trials”. The work done by Xiao-fei Guo, Bo Yang, Wenwn Cai and Duo Li of Zhejiang University, China. With over 2 million hectares of sea buckthorn, china has a significant interest in sea buckthorn. Its traditional herbal medicine has used the plants for treatment of cardio vascular disease; burns, dry eye, inflammation, and promotion of tissue regeneration amongst others.

What has made this study important is the fact that it has centred on trials looking at 403 healthy subjects and 514 patients with conditions such as hypolipidaemia which can impact on cardio vascular diseases(CVD). It has highlighted connections which, similar to the MRC meta-analysis, indicate that sea buckthorn may impact on the risk of CVD. Having raised the potential possible outcome of taking sea buckthorn extracts/oils, it has to conclude however that these studies need to lead to a conclusive wider study to develop consistent extract quality, optimal dose and duration of course when taking a sea buckthorn supplement.

All this is helpful, and as my family take sea buckthorn we appreciate the benefits it brings. Sea buckthorn is not the only natural supplement that is caught in the catch 22 situation that  to gain market recognition there needs to be full human clinical trials to be accepted, but until the market demands this there are no drivers for the research to be funded.

The fact that sea buckthorn has been used for centuries and continues to be so shows it has stood the test of time. There are other growers of sea buckthorn in the UK and interest is growing. Access to fresh berry will allow a better understanding of this unique fruit – so I look forward to the 2017 crop with ever greater excitement.

 

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Post Brexit autumn organics

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Autumn has peeled away the last vestiges of a long hot summer. Daytime temperatures have dropped almost 10 deg C. Overcast skies are delivering a little rain. It being October field work on the sea buckthorn changes direction away and looks towards preparing for the 2017 crop.

With each delivery of new plants from Siberia I have held a few back. These are potted and kept to be replacements for any plants that die. With soil temperatures still high, day time temperatures at 10-15 deg, and rain is starting to provide natural moisture again,  this seems a good time to plant out some of these plants.

The north end of the main orchard was not planted up with the first plantings in 2011. It is a very dry area with heavy clay. In 2014 I planted it with sea buckthorn varieties Jessel, Inya and Elizaveta. The results have been predicatable. Of the 180  Jessel plants there are 50 that need replacing. It is disappointing but this was always going to be a struggle for young plants. I have replacements but on trying to plant them out I found the ground absolutely solid. How the plants have established I am not sure. As I do not irrigate I pay a penalty in terms of losses of young plants and longer establishment time. Those that have made it have searched out deep water to get them through this very dry summer. Deep roots will stand them in good stead if climate change is going to deliver long hot summers in the future.

With the ground being so hard, planting out has to be shelved. The hard ground does allow for vehicle access without soil compaction so all these young plants are now weeded, pruned of dead wood and given a good dose of compost. The only way of improving thee soil and making it lighter will be introducing organic matter into it and hopefully an autumn and spring top dressing over the next three years will ease the clay into becoming more friable and produce healthy plants.

Soil health is now a key interest in UK agriculture. Nurturing it and feeding the myriad of micro-organisms that make up the soil can have huge benefits. A healthy soil has a greater capacity to hold water and nutrients. It should contain a balance of bugs that can control others that we would see as the root cause of disease. Its structure should allow plant roots to grow through it with ease, accessing plant nutrients and water and allowing more energy to go into crop yield and quality.

Climate change is an issue for us all.  Turning the soil produces a release of CO2. Traditionally fields have been ploughed  burying weeds, organic matter from the old crop and weed seeds. This organic matter helps feed the microbes that live in the soil. In places like the US, if this process is done in dry seasons, the soil dries out and can blow away. Soil loss becomes a real issue. It can be lost to wind, but also in the UK to extreme rain downpours with it being washed off the fields. In China this has become a real issue with up to 40% – 3,500,000 square kilometres of land affected. Poor soils equate to poor crop yields. It threatens the livelihood of 100 million people directly but indirectly poor crop yields impacts on food supplies for a growing population. Ironically, sea buckthorn is being used in dry areas to reverse this as it can establish in  very poor soils. Its roots bind the soil and its leaves provide new organic matter to feed it.

In the UK and US ploughing is giving way to less intrusive deep soil cultivation or even no cultivation at all. This is called no-till cultivation. The process involves a machine that direct drills the seed into the ground with minimum disturbance of the top soil. The problem with this is that the organic matter from the old crop is not buried into the soil. It takes longer to break down and provide the essential nutrients for the soil bugs and the crop plant itself. To get around this a cover crop is grown to provide a green manure for the soil. This has to be either cultivated into the soil or killed with chemical sprays. This comes at both a financial and environmental cost.

I recently attended the Soil Association Farmer Innovation Day. These conferences are as much about networking as knowledge, but this one was particularly valuable. The presentations showed there is a mechanical way of tricking the cover crop into breaking down by crimping it with a series of rollers.

As our farm looks to a new world, post-Brexit government support for farming may well be significantly lower than EU pre- June 23rd payments.  Subsidies in agriculture are an essential to the viability of small farms. All problems need solutions and planning to reduce their potential impact is important.

Registering the Devereux farm sea buckthorn with the Soil Association this summer is a three year process before it can become certified as organic. This was not a reaction to Brexit. It was a recognition that finally our method of growing sea buckthorn is delivering results from an organic process. Organic is only viable if there are processes that provide for crop growing method that delivers an economically sustainable crop yield for the farm. Growing sea buckthorn and using compost tea that is delivering both plant nutrient and health provides confidence that organic might be the way forward for the rest of Devereux farm in the future. This is a long process, but as almost half the farm is into conservation management, focusing the arable enterprise to compliment the rest of the farm will I hope bring biodiversity benefit as well as economic sustainability for the long term.

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Harvest time – small, but small can be beautiful.

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This week is the week for starting harvesting. I had thought that the first berries I would pick would be Sirola, the early german variety, but these are at least two weeks off being ripe. Surprisingly Sudarushka; Inya; Chuiskaya; are all going to be ready for pickling over the next week. Klaudia will be the end of next week. Altaiskaya is the last of the bunch.

I still have a suspicion that berries are disappearing to a silent pest. I am certain that birds are not an issue this year. Rockets, kites, scare crows and foil tape has formed a continuing campaign to warn off winged pests. But I am looking to the ground for this issue. Mice or voles are in the grass stripes in the middle of the inter-row passages. Etna berries have been targeted; Klaudia too. The issue is that these areas also contain the beneficial insects that I look to bio-control pests in the spring and early summer. So do I cut these areas out? Altaiskaya have reasonable yields of berries and I will look to these areas to be completely mown so rodents have to cross bare ground to reach the fruit. I have a roving barn owl, and small rodents are nervous when there are magpies and similar omnivous birds in the area. I need to solve this problem for next year as I will see that as the first commercial crop whereas this one will only produce some tasters of what is to come.

I have not mentioned the Latvian plants much. Of the four varieties they are all well covered in berries – much more successful than the Siberian varieties. But they do have thorns. They will not be ready for picking for another three weeks I suspect. It looks like Goldrain will comes first, with Sunny close behind. Mary and Tatjana coming maybe a week after that. With the thorns in mind these bushes will be harvested through a cut and freeze process, which will be the same as the german varieties.

The second field with the german varieties is covered in berries. In fact every bush is loaded down with fruit. But certainly these look at least a month off yet, with the exception of Sirola which I mentioned right at the beginning.

It might be of little interest to some readers but the really exciting thing this year is that the few remaining Finnish plants have also burst into action. These plants arrived in the UK in 2009 as tiny seedlings: three female varieties, two male. The males, Rupdolph and Tarmo have done better than the females. All are dwarf varieties by comparison with the german counterparts. Of the females Raisa and Terhi probably could be said have been more successful, but most of these failed to survive. So it is gratifying to see some produce and it seems fitting to find a Scandinavian in London to enjoy them.

So having planned for harvest to start mid July and go through to mid September I now expect it to be all over by the end of August. It sounds early, but until this process has run through for five years it will be difficult to gauge.

in the background with this I am still looking for grant support for development research. Analysis is the way forward that I have chosen. I have two forms of sea buckthorn plant here. The german plants which seem to survive with little or no management; and the Siberian which require managing with kid gloves. Commercially the former is clearly the way to go, but for want of market diversity finding a way to grow the Siberian exotics with no thorns, larger berries and new taste still remains a goal. To achieve this will need monitoring what I do, and fine tuning it on the basis of results – both good and bad. That will be a funding drain and a high risk venture. Funding assistance will speed up the process and allow that all important holy grail of seeking to develop consistent quality with consistent yield.

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Confused about sugar – but some valuable advice on the way

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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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Vigilance needed or just good management

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One of the principle topics for Euroworks 2014 Finland regarded the sea buckthorn fly. This little fruit fly has the capacity to reduce a crop into the realms of unprofitable enterprise. All crops have a break even point and most of those require a good crop in the first place – the profit only comes from doing the job well.

So it is important that the appearance of the fly is known, challenged and limited in its capacity to reproduce so that every year the population grows. The use of sticky fly traps was discussed, and there was some suggestion that flies can be more sensitive to different tones of yellow/orange in the type of trap. It seemed however that the trap that was brought to the conference with around 1000 flies on it was yellow and had done its job. But these traps are only there to indicate the presence of the flies and allow identification of different species. Once in the crop then the damage will be done.

It seems that most of European growers are organic and will maintain this status in order to deliver a natural product to the consumer. This means no sprays are an option in the control of fly. Some other fruit crops utilise netting for hail control which doubles as providing pest control as well. This is fine for small orchards, but in commercial terms I see mechanically harvested sea buckthorn as being larger orchards so netting becomes expensive both in capital purchase and labour. So vigilance in observation as with the arrival of caterpillar or bird attack sounds like the order of the day.

The suggestion from Germany that fleece under the trees will stop the viability of pupae also sounds an important option. Preventing the ability of one year’s generation to pass onto the following year must be critical if we are to control the fly. I have an uncomfortable feeling that the fly is present in our native environment although currently living off other hosts. It would be valuable to know if foragers have seen the tell tale signs of sea buckthorn fly damage.

It was suggested that the fly seems to like sweeter varieties , so maybe its willingness to eat some of our very sour native wild stock is less enthusiastic. Only time will tell.

So this coming week as I return to spreading compost under my plants I will be starting to consider when/how to place and secure fleece in this coming year. Of course it might be that the UK will not have the problem for a while yet, but that is no reason to be complacent. All crops have pests and sea buckthorn is clearly no different. The problem comes when one looks for natural solutions alone. But the solutions will be largely reliant upon timing, attention to detail, sharing information and a little innovation.