Author: britishseabuckthorn

2006 – seabuckthorn concept introduction; 2008 – first UK seabuckthorn seminar; 2009 – Siberia, and first seabuckthorn planted at Devereux farm; 2010 – import first Siberian varieties; 2011 – first Siberian trials established; 2012- more plants arrive, German plants at Devereux have a few berries; 2013 – disease issues, more German berries – first product trials; 2014 – first few Siberian berries.

So 2015 will provide enough Siberian berries for product trials. The variables of growing a new crop in a new environment together with the uncertainties of climate mean that there are no guarantees on quantity or quality at this stage. The nature of my project also means that there are ten Siberian varieties on site. It means ten potentially different taste sensations; ten different picking experiences; ten different crop ripening options.

Experience with German varieties for us indicates preference for single varieties based on taste. I always have, and still do believe that taste is the most important factor for creating food/drink product. So 2015 will see the ability to rate the Siberian varieties on taste first. The understanding of best flavour will then need to be carried forward with the practical issue of blending varieties in order to bulk up volume without compromising taste. Sounds simple, but taste is a subjective quality and subject to the variables of annual growing conditions.

Of course then, it is probable that most seabuckthorn products will be a combination of ingredients – which in themselves will create a combined taste. Some of the varieties that are here are described as sweet, but that will be influenced again by growing conditions and sunshine. Natural sweetness I am hoping for in order to reduce the need for additional sugar in these days of government guidance to reduce salt/fat/sugar in products.

Our family efforts to create wonderful seabuckthorn products on the kitchen table then have to pass the test of being able to be scaled up into a consistent quality product. At this stage our concepts will pass out of our hands and to the product designer we first met up with as a family back in February 2010. Back then we had plans to create a product with imported seabuckthorn and then run the farm project as a secondary plan. As time has gone on it has become clear that our USP is in own, home grown, UK sourced seabuckthorn. So here we are – four years later and in reality it could be another two years before we have an own label product to sell.

I do believe that some of the Siberian varieties will produce a premium fresh berry that is larger and sweeter than the norm. Harvest 2015 will produce a small quality of these but they will be our gold dust. Seabuckthorn is not just another fruit. It is a new taste sensation on the market. It has a strong nutritional benefit to offer. As a UK product it will be a very unique offering.

Alongside all this come the plans for developing some processing facilities on farm. This always was the concept for developing a seabuckthorn crop. Selling berries alone in quantity runs the same risk as we have with wheat and all other farmed commodity crops – pricing that relates to global markets with no relation to the particular growing systems and costs that are relevant within the UK.

This year will also see some new plants arriving at the farm that will be able to be used in combination with seabuckthorn. I also want to build up our German plant numbers. I have finally sent off the registration fee to certify as organic and with that will come concentration on the development of a soil health management system that is compatible with the seabuckthorn varieties that are at Devereux farm.

The British Seabuckthorn project at Devereux farm will always have an element of research and development within it, but its R&D will look to become viable and sustainable from the 2016 crop – with a surplus to maintain the agronomy development but also to drive progressive product development.

This week has been focused on clearing all the plants in readiness for applying compost. On the basis of staying within organic concepts this has not meant the simple solution of using more Roundup, but using a mulch mower to clear all weed growth. The main two orchard areas of 4500 plants have taken two and a half days to clear. Again it has given an opportunity to remove the moth caterpillers which are particularly bad in the area this year.

The highlight in the week was a visit by a nearby fruit farmer with very preliminary discussion on a partnership in product creation next year. This is particularly exciting because this farm is also relatively new to fruit, growing new varieties that are being readily accepted into premium markets. Partnership has become a means of delivery when resources are limited. This is particularly important at the moment as our sea defences are under imminent threat of failing. Farmland is not considered by government agencies to have sufficient value to attract capital spending. As we also live in a highly designated conservation area ( National Nature reserve; SPA;SAC;SSSI and Ramsar site) any works to protect our shoreline have to comply with EU Habitats directive and national guidelines. Achieving improved defences requires innovative ideas and bringing together all parties that may benefit to contribute time/expertise/funds. Developing a sea buckthorn business I see as a similar concept. Developing markets can be a £million high risk campaign. Doing it in partnership has to generate resources and reduce risk.

So I come back to that topic of standards. All products are created through supply chains of business of all sizes. All to some extent are reliant on each other, but large companies are focused on minimising their risk of failure and maximising their opportunity to bring in profit. So it stands to reason that smaller companies (SMEs) will be at a disadvantage. Competition drives finding ways to maximise reward and this can be the driver that makes small business grow.

So SMEs are at a disadvantage, but that is often countered by the desire to succeed with a passion that may not be found in a larger organisation. Where there is a will there is a way. The issue is always being aware of maintaining a stable core business so that there are enough resources to solve problems that come out of the blue.

The advantage of sea buckthorn is that it has many product opportunities. Opportunities that can be developed dependent upon the resources that one might have to create them. Whether a simple food or drink; a cosmetic or nutraceutical each requires levels of processing to achieve a consistent product to take to market. Consistent means that one has to specify production standards and that has the advantage that the buyer of those products knows what they are getting. There is no guarantee however that in a competitive market it will gain a premium.Growing sea buckthorn is labour intensive and with critical issues still focused around harvesting. I would say that gaining a premium is essential to provide growers with a reasonable return. In reality supply chains rarely pass premiums down the line to growers – so it is up to growers to shorten the supply line so that they have more control over their income.

One of the issues that makes hand picking difficult is the size of berry. This year I have been picking Habego, Askola and Hergo. Habego has been averaging around 55-62gm per 100 berries; Askola has been high yielding but a smaller berry at 42-56gm/100 berries which when bunched tightly on a branch is difficult to pick when ripe without bursting berries.
When I compare these with the theoretical berry size of Siberian varieties I am hoping that life will get easier. Elizaveta – which of course is the variety that I have had issues with is declared as having a 100 berry weight of 100; Inya 85;Augustina 120; Altaiskaya 85; Chuiskaya 89. Some of my habego plants have had larger berries this year and these have been less tightly packed together and so easier to pull off.
Lisavenko also issue figures for the amount of effort it takes to pull a berry off. So variety klaudia appears good at 110-130gm ( although berry size 75). The classic Chuiskaya pull off at 114-137g – again relatively easy. Two newer varieties that i also have on farm – Jessel has a large berry at up to 110, but requires 160-170g to pull off, Etna – a 90g/100 berry size has a similar pull weight. So next year will be interesting to compare these larger berries with ease of and rate of picking.

One final point – I mentioned that the caterpillers have been bad this year. Having cleared the whole site of infestations by Friday, I returned on Saturday afternoon and again found another 7. Today ( Monday) I have only found one so hopefully they are starting to give up, but the damage they do is fast and comprehensive, so it certainly a management issue to look out for next year.

This week the mower came out again which gives that opportunity to go up every row of plants and take in how each individual looks.
Comparing with this time last year I am happy we have made real progress.
Last year was blighted by disease with plants with desiccated branches, diseased leaves and sorry looking plants.
This year is exactly the reverse with young plants established with strong new shoots; maturing plants are healthy; the plants that I cut down 50% last year to control the disease have come back; those that were cut down 75% have not been so lucky. The variety Elizaveta still looks sad with curled leaves but they are at least green and there are no signs of disease. Most Elizaveta has new shoots so my aim for next year is to reverse this end of season leaf curl.
I still believe that this is due to Elizaveta having more reliance upon shallow roots which are struggling to find moisture in my dry clay soil.

As I have been mowing I have probably found 20 plants with large web cocoons of catepillars. These have already striped any leaves in the immediate area of the cocoon. So wearing gloves I have pulled these cocoons off and rubbed all the affected branches to kill any remaining catepillars. This presents a fourth season in the year for catepillar infection. The nature of these are that they can and will strip a whole plant. My experience is that the plant will recover but it is a probelm that requires continual vigilance.

Google Alerts directed me to a film centred around the father of Canadian seabuckthorn yesterday – Colin McLoughlin and his passion for developing an industry centred on the plant in Canada. The 8 minute film illustrates the belief that everyone has in the potential for sea buckthorn, but also the challenges.

The range of products that come out of not just China but Europe, Russia and the US offer quality and functionality. Colin McLoughlin makes an early remark as to the multi use of the plant – but although this translates into product, he also voices comment about claims. Health claims are often made on product but again we come to that subject that they are so difficult to prove in research. This is frustrating as products are used both in humans and animals for skin issues and internal diseases such as gastric ulcers, liver and heart disorders. Although research may find it hard to prove cause and effect, but continued use is as good an indication as any that consumers believe in sea buckthorn product quality and ability.

All those that follow sea buckthorn also know how much research is continually being published. These might not be the large scale studies that develop pharmaceuticals but the reality is that the seabuckthorn industry is small with limited resources. Even so, the dedication of researchers to continue to investigate the qualities of the fruit and leaf are another sign that sea buckthorn is not a fanciful concept. Neither is it a magic bullet for specific issues, but seeing the results of its use is enough to drive investment. For me, having taken oil capsules daily since September 2009 I look for stamina. Stamina that is derived from my body being well, continuously. Stamina that allows me to do long hours of physical work.

Away from the sales pitch – Colin McLoughlin’s film shows one of the challenges as harvesting. It shows the use of the wire tongs that are a favourite tool in Russia. It also shows striping the berries with a thick heavy glove. Both methods work but it relies on the next stage of processing to then remove the leaves and twig that have been pulled off the plant in the process.

Having picked most of my berries this year the old fashioned way – just picking off individual berries by hand, I know how slow and un-commercial this is. It produces a quality sample which is important. It returns to the store a bucket of berries that need little picking over to clean of trash. But this will only work when your time is your own, or your pickers are paid a minimal wage.

Yesterday I restored to my Russian style tong in again a frustration to improve my harvesting rate. Askola and hergo are both smaller berry size varieties. My hergo berries are bunched up tightly in branches. The berries need to be still quite hard to pull them out from these clusters – but of course one wants to harvest when the berries are ripe.

Askola is a variety that I like as a grower because the plants grow well and they are high yielding. This equates the variety to habego. The berries do not seem to cluster so hand picking is sort of possible, but the size of berry just makes it too slow to recover any economic weight of berries in an hour.

The other problem i have yet to master with Askola is harvesting time. I find the berries sharper in taste to habego. Consequently I taste and wait – looking for the sharpness to temper. Last week ( up to August 29th ) they were still hard; the colour pale, more yellow than orange; and the taste bitter in my view. So I thought I could leave Askola to this week.

The result was a mess. Their taste is perfect – in fact I would say as good as habego, but in terms of hand picking around 20% of the berries were too ripe. With small berries the result was like picking wild berries – they just burst. The result is a sample that is very moist – almost wet with broken berry juice. I also tried shaking the bush – maybe not at the right strength or frequency, but the ripe berries would not fall off. So I can see that Askola I would grow for mechanical harvesting.

Alternatively pick them earlier and wait for them to ripen. My experience with the few Russian berries that I saved this year and kept in the fridge was that they did ripen. But there is nothing better than a fruit ripened on the plant – so I think this is a compromise.

So although there are great products out there from sea buckthorn, it is essential that hand assisted or mechanical harvesting is cracked as the principle challenge that faces growers.

Once this has been mastered I believe that sea buckthorn will become a viable crop that will be grown far more widely.

Without question the qualities inherent in the plant drive the passion of people across the world to bring it to the market. Grown in 40 countries across three continents this is no fad. All it needs is investment and its natural nutritional value will drive appreciation and demand.

The advent of the Nutrition and Health Claims regulations came about because there was concern amongst regulators and politicians that products were being sold in the European market with health claims that were false or unable to be substantiated by science. From that moment on regulators made it clear that in their view food is not a medicine.

A medicine is defined as a drug or other preparation for the treatment or prevention of disease. Over the past fifty years the pharmaceutical and retail industries have developed a readily available selection of drugs for minor ailments that keep us away from doctors. Pills or a course of anti-biotics have become part of life as the means to allow us to carry on with our lives without being troubled by minor illnesses.

Food therefore has become a means of providing the fuel to keep us going. Product nutritional detail is angled towards basic dietry characteristics. Some staples then try to improve their ability to provide more for us by being fortified with vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are accepted as being good for us, and the fear that food does not provide all it should has developed a massive industry in the supply of supplements. So what drives this fear. We are continually told by agencies and health professionals that we must eat five a day – fruit and vegetables to have a healthy diet. People do not like being preached to as to what is good for us. The pace of modern life and the distractions that it offers do not always fit with a daily habit of three meals of cooked food. Processed/ pre-prepared foods provide the opportunity to reduce everyday routine tasks improving lifestyles or allowing work to fill longer hours.

Food has become a “have to” function as opposed to a necessity; a family affair; a social opportunity; or even dare I say it – the means of keeping healthy.

As farmers we produce the commodity food staples that go to processors to be converted into food products. These products are controlled by regulators to have labels that tell the consumer how well a product will go to providing a “healthy” diet. But for all this we have a country with almost 62% of the country’s adults defined as obese and frighteningly 28% of children also in that category. It has been said this week that this could be the first generation where there is a risk of children dying before their parents.

We also have a government that is having to enforce regulation to make hospitals provide food that is good for patients. I find it staggering that diet has so little appreciation in the NHS as to its potential to influence health.

The concept that food and health are connected seems to have drifted apart. Food can be bad for you we are told time and time again. Too much salt; too much sugar; too much of the wrong sorts of fats; – all negative attributes. Eating a food item because it is good for you might indicate that we are afraid that we might have an illness. Anyway one could say that it is irrelevant whether food is good for you, because we cure our illnesses with pills.

It seems that food has become disconnected from being the natural way to keep your body healthy. It is no big deal. It is just a fact that food that has the right nutrient profile, when eaten with a range of other foods to provide a balanced diet has a good chance of giving you the best opportunity to be healthy. That means healthy without taking supplements.

But of course there is a view that says that modern agriculture is not geared to producing commodities to have widely beneficial nutrient profiles. The way that food passes off farms into the food supply chain does not check nutrient levels at the farm gate. That is the processors job, and if the processor finds the product wanting then the product will be fortified with vitamins and minerals to make the consumer feel they are getting a good deal.

But going back to the Nutrition and Health Claims regulations – one of the reasons why so many applications to have health claims accepted by EFSA have failed is that the research that backs up a claim does not go far enough to prove benefit. Research needs to include detailed and repeatable clinical trials. Clinical trials are the accepted process when testing pharmaceutical – but these tend to be based around single active ingredients.
Food products from natural sources do not include single active ingredients – they are built up of multiples of complex phytochemicals all working in synergy to interact within the human body. Food is grown in the natural environment in which the weather is an ever-changing variable. Soils; plant varieties; management techniques all go to providing a totally inconsistent manufacturing process. From one year to the next; from one farm to the next food product are created but the variable that influence them will ensure that the nutrients within them may have the same profile, but not the same concentration. So from all this, it is not surprising that one cannot prove whether a food product is good for you by scientific means alone.

Having said that some agronomy systems may be able to improve nutrient production better than others, but the economics of farming is such that a more critical view of the production of food nutrients is not valued – in the same way as the NHS seems not to value it either.

But against all this there is nutritional science that identifies the physiological connections between the body; diet and the biochemistry within the nutritional value of food. These are inter connected and this knowledge is not new. So although the European Food Safety Agency may not agree that there is a cause and effect reason why many food can provide benefits, we all know that good food is nutritious and a good diet helps to keep you well.
So if that statement is real then food is as good as medicine, and we should start to value it as such.
The problem with health is that you never value it until it is threatened.

Harvest is progressing this year with varying numbers of helpers depending on the availability of other members of the Eagle family. It has also been a week of classic British weather – sunshine and showers. I think that August on the whole is not a good month when compared with July, but then the year is creeping towards autumn. If anything the temperature this week has been more like autumn. But for all of that the Habego; hergo; Leikora; Frugana and Dorana are all ripening.

In terms of ripeness, Leikora are ripest. Having started picking on Wednesday, August 20th. next year I will pick these a little earlier. They have a thicker skin than Habego and require more of a pull to remove them. The other phenomenon of picking was the cries of despondency as the thorns on Leikora are more prolific, longer and positioned to ambush the un-wary. Having said that the reason for picking them was down to taste which we thought was definately good enough to fight off the pain.

As a comment, I do think that hand picking can be less painful if you pull the branch up with one hand and pick from under the branch, always pulling towards you. This seems to avoid the majority of the problems.

It is a concern that hired in pickers may object to being stabbed to often. Hand picking seems to be the cleanest and best way – time consuming but it needs the sensitivity that fingers provide. Gloves would have to be leather to fend off thorns and I question whether one can pick at a commercial rate with gloves.

In terms of picking rate, variety effects rate. Large berries; yield on the bush and ripeness I would suggest are the principle factors.

My Habego is being really frustrating. They are the largest shrubs and the yield is heavy, although I would say that this is similar to Askola. The problem this year has been that several ( but not all) of the shrubs are ripe in the middle and lower branches and partially ripe in the upper branches. So this week these bushes have been half picked and the tops will be repicked as they come ripe. In terms of yield, the best Habego will have yeilded over 10kg as the middle/lower pick came to 9kg. The berries are large on most bushes which makes huge difference to hand picking.

Yesterday I picked the ripe berries out of the yellow clumps on the upper branches of the habego. The process is slow, but it has freed off the thick clumps of on these higher Habego branches. I am hoping that this will speed up the picking process when/if these yellow berries ripen.

By comparison the Leikora berries are even larger still than the habego making picking easier. Ripeness alters daily and the degree of firmness changes the ease of picking.

The current concentration is on clearing the habego but that will be followed by Hergo. It is unfortunate that these are a smaller berry, although the flavour is good. With thorns also being an issue, I am not looking forward to hand picking these Hergo plants. I am going to cut some of the branches and freeze them. They need a prune and it will speed up the process.

In terms of actual picking rate I have struggled to pick more than 3kg per hour by hand. The habego bushes that I have picked with the part ripe top branches i have found that the rate slips below 3kg. This puts a price on the berries. With the politicians talking about moving the minimum wage to an economic living wage of £7.60/hour this puts home grown berries at a premium.

A truely thornless variety would speed up the process. So my ultimate choice of variety has to look for a big berry that has a good flavour – that need not be sweet, but from a plant that yields more than 10kg and is thornless.

Then of course one should start to look at nutritional content – but that is another topic.

The Siberian plants having been picked by the rooks all that is left is the German plants.

With no facility to make product to sell that has been certified by the Environmental Health this year is focused on product design.
Having started on August 18th there are some observations worth making.

There are not as many berries as last year but they are much bigger this year than last. Average 50 berry weight is 28g., with a size between 8 and 10mm wide and 10/12mm long. This being for Habego.
They are mostly ripe, but it is the berries in the middle and bottom of the plants that are most forward. Some plants are being half picked and the remainder will be taken next week.

Picking is still with last year’s stainless steel tongs. Branches are first striped with the tong and then because of the size of the berries the picking is finished with a hand pick to clear the fruit around the end of the branches.

I am taking the Askola and leikora after this first picking of habego as these seem to be further behind the habego. Hergo – the berries are smaller but have a good taste and will be taken next week.

Picking starts now at 10am and goes through until 2pm, after which the berries are spread on mesh trays and leaves picked out; then put into a mesh screener and shaken to remove the small bits of leaf and small and broken berry. A wash through and shake to dry and then frozen.
All very cottage industry, but at least it is a real harvest of sorts. It certainly would not pay to have hired in help – but with all the family picking everyone gets to have a say on how we can do things better.

The weather is not helping and afternoons have been hit with rain showers, but the forecast is not bad so I hope that picking will be over by the end of next week.

What is weather? As a farmer the weather is a variable over which you have no control. One can try to manage the consequences of weather but before taking action the qustion is – is this a normal phenomenon or a freak incident.

This last winter was very wet and I held off planting the new stock from Siberia until the ground conditions improved in the early spring. But in reality the water table was still high and the young plants hated it. In fact I have lost a lot of them.
Rain may not be a big problem, but combined with heavy clay soil the effect is a soil that is nearly anaerobic.
We are told by climate change experts that the weather will feature extremes so heavy rain, and potentially periods of drought.

Some of my mature german plants have suffered from 90% leaf drop this summer. Is this a result of the wet ground conditions. In reality it is only two plants, but when it is a five year old plant it is a concern to see such a problem without knowing the background reason.

I think it was a result of drainage – or waterlogged ground as a result of a long period of heavy rainfall.
The German plants this year have a smaller yield, but larger berries.

Waterlogging will also mean a draining away of natural nutrients – so I am putting this down to my poorer yield that I should have compensated for with additional foliar feeds.

This is topical as over the past week we have had 30mm of rain in four days. The bonus is that it is becoming easy to pull weeds, but after a wetter than average year, ground conditions need to be good in the autumn in order to spread the mulch compost.

So I need to be thinking about improving the drainage of the orchards.

But the immediate focus is on next week – as a start on picking the German and Finnish berries.
Without machinery this means by hand. Then onto mesh racks to pick out the trash of leaves. Awash through then air dry and chill before freezing.
Now that sounds simple doesn’t it.

I will be timing the process against yield picked and how much we achieve in a day.
I am going to trim off the outer leaves first to give some better access to berries. Last night I thought that we should turn these into tea. So the evenings next week will also be steaming and drying leaves.
Probably at the same time I am going to mix in some gogi leaves, and possibly some lemon thyme for additional flavouring.
Wouldn’t it be good to have a 36 hour day.

The rain has stopped now – so that’s the end of the ramble. But one thing that is certain is that growing seabuckthorn here is built on experience. That is why this project feels like a ten year learning curve.

Before I sign off – it is more than a learning curve – it is a challenge.

At the back of our fridge I put some berries from the Siberian plants that were picked in June.
They came out after supper a couple of nights ago.
Not all varieties were edible, but the Elizaveta was sweet and very good.

This is a problem, because Elizaveta is the one variety that I am really struggling with. At the moment its leaves look curled and not happy – although a good colour.
How am I going to get this variety to grow like the others.
I could give it up, but I think the berries are so good that it is worth giving them extra effort to see if there is a method to bring them into good condition all year.

So 2014/15 another challenge on the list will be to persuade the Elizaveta that the UK is a good place to live – and hopefully reward the effort with some precious berries.