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Sustainability will be the order of the day

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It has been both a practical and an academic week. Kicking off with a good dose of manual weeding first thing on Monday morning loosens up both body and mind. The next three days where allocated to the great Food Matters Live conference. In reality Matt covered Wednesday and I the other two.

Food Matters is going to become an annual pilgrimage. With eight seminar rooms, each turning out twenty odd technical discussions over each day, the only complaint I have is there is too much choice.

This year my focus was on nutrition for health; marketing; packaging with a look in on immunity. With the drive to find natural alternatives to sugar, and so much talk about the after taste of stevia – the last talk on Thursday threw Yacon in as an option.

Sea buckthorn’s nutrient quality will always define its taste as sharp, but the UK consumer has been brought up on sweetness. Finding a new source of natural sugar without calories is of interest. One that maybe we could grow on the farm would of course be of interest. Growing sea buckthorn has its growing challenges, so the fact that Yacon comes from Peru should not be a barrier. One might question however why we should bother.

The answer possibly comes from a vision of the future. I read this week that a recent IPSOS MORI poll indicates that 9 out of 10 people say they believe climate change is a threat. This comes at a time when next month the UN will hold their Climate Change conference in Paris.  One of the seminars at Food Matters was on sustainability within the food industry. Waste and resources management becoming a key concern both from an economic and environmental viewpoint. It also featured at Generation Farm 2015, sustainability this time being necessary to challenge a “trilemma” of threats  of food scarcity, climate change and the depletion of natural resources – particularly soil. Building our farm future on integrated crops that deliver the capacity to produce on farm product with a minimum of resources has to be a vision to work for.

Soil is our greatest asset. It is the medium that over the past few decades we have taken for granted too much.  It has to be managed sustainably for future generations.  It is the medium in which over 95% of the world’s food is produced and yet it is being lost at an alarming rate. It is not only the means to grow our food, but also the means by which we deliver the nutrient quality in our food.

Conferences like Food Matters reveal trends of which nutrients offer health opportunities in the future. Our international sea buckthorn conferences and growers bible give plant and soil management ideas to enhance the quality of the sea buckthorn crop.  Market trends might provide specific nutrients as quality indicators.  But focusing on particular nutrients can miss the point. Sea buckthorn is not an artificially fortified product. It has a natural nutrient formula that works in a multitude of ways. As growers we must nurture and deliver the natural formula to consumers – that will be our quality parameter.

If soil is an essential resource, small businesses access to funding is equally important. It is concerning therefore when it is reported that 17% of SMEs report their overdrafts have been reduced or withdrawn over the past two years. The Bank of England reports that every day since 2011 £5 million has been cut from SME overdrafts.

The pre-2008 recession economic environment saw borrowing levels at un realistic levels.For SMEs developing new enterprise is risky and this does not fit well when banks are under pressure to reduce the riskier element of their balance sheets. Crowd funding is an option. The news this week that the mini drone project fronted by KickStarter is causing concern  re-inforces the need for realism and caution.

 

Some enterprises look for quick returns. Sea buckthorn takes a number of years to come to peak yield. Our vision for sea buckthorn is a long term future with a sustainable crop -delivering natural quality to satisfied customers. Developing the business is not a challenge, it is a process – and even the weeding can be enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

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Tragedy and a positive look for the future

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The night of November 13th in Paris is not something that last week I would have added to my blog. Having paused for 2 minutes silent reflection at 11am just two days before to think on the loss of life to war and maybe how little we have learnt since 1918, it seems shocking to be considering now the waste of so many lives and the sadness of what draws the perpetrators of such events to create such grief. In a time of great global economics, maybe these events are the price that we have to bear as life becomes more dehumanised and the split between rich and poor becomes politicised.

Change is something that is happening all the time. Last weekend Ben, who is currently studying at post graduate level said that the future of farming will be looking to robotics and will not be farming as we know it. This is repeated in the current edition of the Fruit Grower with a photograph of a Bosch built robot that analyses and weeds crops. Robotics are not just about a transition to a low staff level in agriculture, they are about improving quality, reducing costs and being competitive.

Quality and value has recently been reflected in another study this week coming out from Euromonitor International. It recognises the growth in the Health and Wellbeing market across the world. The continued press regarding obesity, diabetes; the trials of NHS budgets; the war on sugar by the government, in Uk terms all start to make a healthier diet look like something that consumers should and are driving themselves. Consumers are moving away from unhealthy and adulterated foods particularly at breakfast time – although i wonder whether this is also about changes in eating habits. Healthy foods are outstriping fortified and functional foods – naturally healthy presented with a clean understandable label possibly gaining more trust from consumers. Interestingly organic food out performs even the naturally healthy. This is a global phenomenon but if one combines organic and naturally healthy it must say a lot about how consumers are thinking. Add to this the growth in free from and intolerance based foods and the food industry is moving towards a health conscious consumer.

Where does that leave sea buckthorn? They are certainly natural and healthy. The fresh berry market, according to Kantar Worldpanel has grown 31% in the last year exceeding a record £1 billion. This from  £600m just five years ago.  These are mainstream fruits – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. These fruits are intensively farmed and have significant marketing budgets behind them.  They are promoted as an ideal snack with renown health benefits.

We went to Germany this September to see sea buckthorn mechanical harvesting and processing in action. The internet is seeing a huge rise in sea buckthorn related interest. The fruit has an exceptional nutritional profile that excels these other mainstream fruits. 2016 will be our first true harvest with fresh fruit available for the UK market. Visits to food fairs keep showing there is significant demand for sea buckthorn as a new and innovative ingredient. – investment takes time to bring reward but 2016 will bring on our year of change. Let us hope 2016 will also be a year where peace and goodwill can start to erode some of the on-going tragedies in the world today.

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Confusing communication

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Winter has set in and so with it comes the dismal task of weeding. Weeding should not be necessary, as one of the golden rules of growing sea buckthorn is to control weeds. The issue will however soon be committed to the past as I am really hoping that by this spring i will have a compost spreader. It might not sound a very exciting thing to most people, but this moves my field work into the 21st century. Gone will be hand weeding 5000 plants through the wet and cold of winter. The thrower is a bespoke machine that will allow me to bury area around each plant below 6-8 inches of 25mm grade green waste compost. The fact it comes with a tractor means that my two second hand mowers will also be retiring to be replaced a larger, faster, more powerful means of keeping the grass between the plants under close control. No weeds means no competition for the sea buckthorn.

Smothering the ground will also help in the control of sea buckthorn fly if it crosses from Europe to the UK next year. The fly lay eggs in the berries. The full metamorphosis process ends up with pupae falling to the ground to over winter in the soil. Hopefully the compost will create a barrier to the soil and as it rots down the pupae will be exposed to predatory birds. Sea buckthorn fly can reduce a crop by over 50% so control is crucial.

The news of the compost thrower is not the only significant issue this month. British Sea buckthorn started trading in its own right this month. The first product being a sea buckthorn supplement for horses. The target market is performance horses – racing; eventing; dressage; show jumping. It is a classic product following the historic linkage with Hippophae as its plant name translating to Shiny Horse. Selling sea buckthorn in the UK falls under the Nutrition and Health Claim directive. This covers food/drink and human products, but for the horse industry we come under the control of the Vet and Medicines directorate. It is frustrating as we have many customers with great testamonials. They say sea buckthorn has helped their horse – but legally we are restricted from saying how the product benefits them.

I fully sympathise with the need for controls that only allow marketing to refer to benefits proven by science, but as i have said a number of times in this blog – proving how a botanical product works is very difficult.

Statements, like statistics are not always what they seem. Nutrition is a minefield as it is highly complex impacted by many variables. So when the World Health Organisation classified “all red meat as probably carcinogen to humans” the reaction has, not unsurprisingly been mixed. The media picked up this statement and all of a sudden two rashers of bacon a day are deemed to heighten the risk of bowel cancer by 18%. An article I read this weekend rationalised this statistic. In the UK we all have a risk of bowel cancer that is around 6.25%. This 18% risk, may lift this risk to 7.35%. But what of the balanced diet, what of lifestyle influences, what of genetic inheritance issues – these bold statements do little but create initial panic, followed by sane ridicule. Unfortunately if there was value in the original issue then the point is lost through poor communication.

So when we look to market our sea buckthorn should we leave the product to sell itself and allow for market growth to be by good consumer experience, or should we be looking to trying to communicate the science that comes from research papers? Science is not static, understanding processes is growing and changing all the time. But as the bacon saga suggests, it is not what you say that matters, it is how you say it that conveys the message.

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Turmoil in the EU over health claims

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The focus here at British Sea buckthorn often revolves around the question what is sea buckthorn. There are many websites that provide information on phtyochemical content and potential benefits, but we all know that when it comes to selling product regulations require benefit claims to be substantiated by scientific evidence.

The EU evidence review body has really struggled to provide any positive judgements on botanical sourced claims. The subject becomes clouded by natural biochemical complexity and regulatory requirement to meet highly defined clinical trial results.

It has been an interesting week therefore when it was reported that a court in Italy had thrown out an Italian Competition Authority ruling against a company making claims on fermented extract of papaya. The ruling had followed  EU Nutrition and Health Claim directive legislative guidance, but the court ruling is said to effectively voided the Health Claims regs in Italy – at least for a while.

There has also been an interesting turn in the novel food regulations accepting SME’s will not be charged for making bringing a novel food through the regulatory process.. Add to that the statement today that the EU intends to deliver rulings on nutritional profiling and botanicals in 2016, which was supposed to be completed in 2009.

There is then the discussion at the European Food Safety Agency that decision has to be more open. Science is about challenging peers; about scepticism; about  finding the nearest approximation of the truth. The new head of EFSA talks of developing a process of structured open data, allowing IP to be released through a patent style fee paid system. Call me an optimist, but coming from an SME perspective when funding R&D is challenging, the potential that regulators may become seen as more transparent and able to work with innovators not obstruct them can only be good news.

Sea buckthorn is a multi functional botanical facilitated by a highly complex soup of biochemicals. There is a wealth of research that pushes and prods at creating an understanding of the methodology and chemical pathways that may be associated with benefits that have been emerged from practical use.

As someone that wants to bring sea buckthorn to market and recognises some of these practical outcomes from years of personal use, it is frustrating not to have definitive clinical trials that have swept that EFSA with accredited claims. It is not surprising however with botanicals remaining in limbo with EFSA that funding clinical trials does not find favour with investors. Again as an optimist, and working within regulations I am sure its wider use will develop as more people try and discover its potential for themselves.

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European Superfruit flying the flag

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I am still in awe of Mathew, British Sea Buckthorn co-director completing his Iron man challenge. 3.8km sea swim; 180km cycle ride over the mountains of Mallorca followed by a full marathon. Being fit and enough practice was only part of his game – it also executed a great plan. A plan to conserve and use energy to make it through in under the 16 hours allocated. It is inspirational.

As British Sea buckthorn rolls onto another R&D year it also rolls into a new plan. Harvest 2015 has defined how we will harvest in the future and improve efficiency. The plan for this winter will also see us working with new companies promoting sea buckthorn in the UK as a superfruit.

Working with others to promote your product is about developing market awareness. The VW issues that broke last week show that brands are not always as shiny as they seem. Consumer trust is the holy grail for all companies. Tarnish it, and it can take years to remove the blemish. But transgressions are human errors. Consumers look for perfection, and perfection we should deliver, but mistakes will happen. They are the learning curve that creates quality and defines brands.

Superfruit was a term developed in 2005 to describe a natural product with exceptional qualities. It was abused by some in making health benefit claims that could not be substantiated. One of the results was the EU Nutrition and health Claim regulations. Laws to protect the consumer and to guide the manufacturer.

Two weeks ago at a Growth Accelerator masterclass my presentation on sea buckthorn explained the nutritional power of the fruit with all its bioactive compounds. One of the audience cut through all my detail and stated – so its a superfruit. Simplicity returns. It was not the term superfruit that was discredited back in the mid 2000s, it was the actions that tarnished it.

Back in 2012 a Julian Mellentine report on innovative functional food products stated the need for clarity; backed by authority and defining difference.  Our plan in 2015/16 will be to see sea buckthorn in the UK market as European superfruit. The reaction from companies at the LUNCH 2015 exhibition  last Friday proved there is interest and demand. So with Iron Man resolve this will be a classic development year.

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Iron Man- a great sea buckthorn challenge

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Harvest has now come to an end and a lot has been learnt. the biggest challenge though this week is not with the sea buckthorn but for Mathew who is at this moment six hours into his Iron man challenge in Mallorca. He has finished his 3.8km sea swim in 1 hour 17min which is impressive as the first of the pros finished in 48 mins. With a mountain to climb on his cycle of over 100km, then followed by a marathon his target is to finish within the 16 hour course time limit – coming in a 11pm tonight. His progress can be found under Mathew Swain on the Iron Man Mallorca website – ironman.com..

With challenges like iron man, sea buckthorn seems easy.

This week’s highlight has been at the “Lunch” exhibition in London. Without exception all those that tried our fresh sea buckthorn berries really liked them. I also took a new potential product – apple infused dried berries which went down very well in the bakery and energy bar sector. So with harvest 2015 finished this has made a great start for the next year and some partners to work with.

The day was crowned by coming home and collecting the mechanics of a blast freezer for next harvest. Hardly used and the chance to go next week to gain the materials to build a cold store from one being dismantled. So the year is looking good.

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The Power of nature

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Our sea buckthorn harvest is coming to an end with the last few plants of Askola being cut over the next two or three days. The german plants have yielded phenomenally – over ten kilos. This is  even more remarkable as the process has left the branches necessary for next year still laden with berries.

This plantation is made up of the first planting back in 2009, so these are now maturing to peak yield. Remarkably, they also receive no fertiliser, no irrigation, and a minimum of management except for a good prune in the winter.

This minimum management is on purpose to see how the plants perform under this regime. The one marked issue is the difference between the strong growers and the weak plants. i can only put this down to the potential frankia activity in the soil.

The great advantage with sea buckthorn is the potential of the frankia nodules on the roots to source and trap the nitrogen that the plant needs. Judging by the yields this year when this activity is successful it requires no further intervention. It is marked however that there are occasional plants that still yield heavily but the leaves are weak and discoloured. Consequently the berries are small and virtually unharvestable.

The conundrum is whether to provide fertiliser in order to bring all plants up to a standard or not. Providing nitrogen in whatever form will reduce the capacity of the frankia to operate effectively. Alternatively those plants that are weak I will identify and some I will spray with a solution of soil from the roots of alder trees – which also affiliate with sea buckthorn. This may provide sufficient frankia in the soil to rejuvenate these weak plants. A second group i will mulch deeply with compost and provide compost tea as i do with the Siberian plants. A third group will be left alone.

I will have to wait for another year for the results – but that is farming.

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Harvest systems – an absolute priority.

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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.