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The World Never Owed Us a Living

britishseabuckthorn

Autumn has come around again and it is my favourite time of year. Temperatures are mild, the landscape is colouring up as leaves start to turn, and our sea buckthorn looks good and healthy. We have recently been reminded by the scientific community that climate change now requires urgent management. 2018 will be one to remember. The first buds on our plants started to open in mid January. The wintery blast of the storm – the Beast from the East appeared in March. It came just as our Siberian plants were preparing for pollination.

Sea buckthorn is wind pollinated, so it does not rely on insects. Our orchard is laid out so female plants fall within 10m of male plants.  In Altai, where the plants come from, spring is not until April. Pollination is therefore in our late spring. The Siberian plants at Devereux have adapted to our mild climate by emerging from dormancy in January and starting to pollinate in mid-March.

Hence the icy strong winds last March cut checked the pollination process. The result – almost no crop. In a year when the IPCC told us that we have 12 years to reduce our impact on the environment, I have to reflect whether an icy March and a long summer drought are part of climate change or just circumstance.

As coastal farmers we are very aware of the potential impacts of climate change. Retreating glaciers and collapsing tundra in Siberia are geographically distant events, but both threaten our farm. I do consider that every time I get in my car to go to the farm I add another contribution of emissions to the atmosphere. Global warming is happening and the glaciers are melting. The tundra collapsing is worrying as it has locked up CO2 not for decades or centuries, but for millennia. The tundra is thawing as the climate warms. It has a capacity to release huge amounts of global warming gases, increasing the rate of warming. The direct impact for us of a warmer atmosphere is warmer seas, creating sea level rise through thermal expansion.

Solving, or controlling global warming requires huge political will and collaboration. The impetus that is driving collective political inspiration to reduce the use of plastic is heart-warming. But often there is a feeling that as individuals it is difficult to influence those at the centre of political power. So it is up to each individual to understand their impact.

As a farm we need to look at how and where we create emissions. Energy use is a major issue. How we conserve water for crops, livestock and the environment. Our level of consumerism and creating waste. All of these are serious issues that we have to identify, quantify and reduce.

The Advisory committee on climate change report published yesterday suggests that government is not going to have the resources to solve the impacts of climate change. It is therefore down to the individual to find local solutions to local problems and like our sea buckthorn it is a matter of adapting to a new environment and moving on.

This process is underway but I would love to think that the world will wake up, as it is with plastic, to manage climate change as it poses a very real threat.

We are told that climate change will provide extreme periods of weather and again we have experienced a long hot dry summer. Our plants look healthy this autumn, so they are showing their capacity to withstand drought, but healthy plants are no good to a farmer if they do not produce a crop. It is the uncertainty that this brings which presents challenges. I fear that politicians are turning a blind ear to the scientists and expect that technology will deliver a solution to this gravest of issues. Maybe, as is happening with plastic waste there will be a sudden resolve to act. Maybe it is down to all of us to take personal responsibility for reducing our impact on the planet.

Fear however is not productive so with autumn comes the start of another year and plans for making next harvest a success. Thoughts of a bountiful crop spur on even the most tedious jobs. Pruning started this month. As our plants get larger pruning seems to take forever. Apart from removing dead wood, this year low branches that will snag the Ladurna cultivator are being trimmed back. The tops of branches in the centre of the plant are also being removed to allow more light into the plant.

 

David

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Harvest 2018: German plants perform better

britishseabuckthorn

Last week we started to harvest our German sea buckthorn varieties. The emphasis at Devereux farm has been to focus on growing the thornless, sweeter Siberian varieties, but the initial orchard started with 180 mixed German and Finnish plants represented by nine female varieties.  The eccentric weather has impacted on these plants by later ripening. Varieties normally harvested in July are up to four weeks late in ripening. Berry size is good and it will be interesting to see how they analyse.

Having had a long hot summer nutritional analysis may see better than average concentrations of key nutrients but with 190 to choose from which are the most relevant. There are key vitamins of A, B, C and E; omega 3,6,7,9 fatty acids; phyto-sterols; and myriad polyphenols. But if we analyse what do we need? Single headline nutrients are not the reason why any fruit provides health benefit. It is the synergy of the total mix of nutrients that is important. The interaction between nutrients contributes to the nutrient driven health package that contributes to the make-up of balanced diet.

As a farmer I want to grow a quality crop. Analysis will indicate whether growing methods are creating consistent quality. Research indicates that as fruit ripens so does the concentration of individual nutrients within it.  Some increase, some decrease but this will be influenced by variety and weather making management difficult if one is looking to grow a consistent quality berry. The old adage of eating an apple a day cuts some truth here. It is not the fact that you eat a natural ingredient, but the fact that you eat it regularly and often building up the supply of fresh natural nutrients for your body. If fruit quality is down in a particular year it matters less if you carry on eating it day in, day out regardless.

One quirk in this year’s harvest is that some German varieties – habego in particular are ripening consistently on the north side of plants, but the berries on the south side are yellow on the top exposed to the sun, and orange underneath. Is this a form of bleaching, or lack of ripening? Brix measurements on all berries are around 8, much lower than the figures for Siberian varieties which when ripe are between 12 and 14.

We have started harvest on some nine year old habego plants, some of which will not have been harvested last year. The first of these plants yielded 27kg gross – including the weight of the branches. We are trimming off leaf and cutting berry bearing sections of branch approx. 40-50cm long, so the wood content is small, so this yield is impressive.

The berry separator machine has been put through its paces and has worked well in its primary task of removing berry and leaf from branches. Like all prototypes the best way of testing a design is to use it, and then work out how to perfect it. We still need to improve the flow and channelling of leaf after it has been removed. The operation can be messy and within a food processing environment, spillage of waste leaf is undesirable. When it takes so little time to remove the berries by machine, it is frustrating to spend so much time clearing up after the job. This will be sorted for next year – it is another part of the development process.

So that is progress on the sea buckthorn. This all comes at a time when the rest of the farm has also been busy with the arable harvest being cut. Over this summer we have also been a partner in building a 250m sea wall to protect a neighbouring Anglian Water treatment works. The final job of the engineers involved on the wall was also to dig some scrapes in two fields to improve our local habitat for breeding birds and waders. It certainly has been a year to remember.

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Russian varieties disappointing, hoping for better German success

britishseabuckthorn

The last three months we have been putting together our sea buckthorn harvest processing site. Its function is simple. To freeze down the branches and then separate out the berries from the leaf and branch and finally to grade the berry for marketing. We are farmers by trade, but developing this site has raised the issues of selling a food product direct to market so food hygiene becomes an issue. On Monday the site was inspected by our local Environmental health officer. Like all new experiences we had no idea what to expect. The site has been designed to be able to maintain high hygiene standards, so thankfully the work passed inspection.

The fact we do not have much of a crop is an issue, but with the Latvian varieties now in, we look forward to the German varieties next. It seems that the Sirola was also effected by poor pollination with some plants berryless. We Brix tested both Sirola and Habego yesterday – 13.4 for sirola and 7.6 for habego. The consideration is that Sirola will be ready by the end of the week, but Habego is at least a fortnight off ripening.

Having some berries has allowed a trial run of the new berry separator. As with all prototypes there are a number of small design changes to fine tune the machine, but reflecting that last year separation was a manual process – this is a revolution in progress.

A revolution might mean progress, but without a main crop this year we have now to focus on harvest 2019. It has been three years since we planted any new plants, but the next planting needs to reflect which varieties to select as commercially viable for the future. A small field next to the existing orchard will provide room for another 1300 plants.

Our selection needs to be on which plants are responding to regrowth after harvesting. Taste is key. Large berry size would be good for marketing but currently achieving a 1gm berry seems difficult.  With that in mind the focus on establishing a new site will be to improve the soil condition from the start with compost incorporated into the planting soil.  As we are all becoming conscious of water conservation we do not want to irrigate mature plants, but providing a drip line to new plants is worth trying. Improving our foliar feed applications through the growing cycle also becomes possible now we are tooling up with our landini tractor with a sprayer. Like the introduction of the separator, each year that goes by brings us closer to having the full set of tools to produce a good crop of sea buckthorn.

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Harvest 2018

britishseabuckthorn

Harvest 2017 showed great prospect for our sea buckthorn. All the Siberian plants across the site produced heavy – predicted yields of berries. Having produced a crop the next challenge was to create an efficient, affordable means of harvesting. Winter 2017/18 therefore focused on delivering this process.

One can formulate the best plans but in agriculture there are natural variables that have the capacity to undermine concept based on theory. We all have experiences of weather and the seasons but these now have to blend with considerations as to the impact of a changing climate and how much to risk manage this position.

We still have mild winters. I am told that the severe weather incident in mid-March should be taken as a one in fifty year event. Its impact disrupted the pollination of our sea buckthorn resulting in no Siberian crop, although we still have a yield of Latvian and German varieties. The climate might be changing but unless this is repeated within the next three years, we have to discount this as a novel event.

The prolonged period of hot, dry weather over June and July is a different matter. This has been predicted by climate change scientists and it seems to be repeated across the globe. We need to look at our sea buckthorn crop and assess the impact of this phenomenon.

After a solid two months of no rain and temperatures up to the mid-30 deg C has left the majority of the plants still looking healthy. As our soil is clay and our water table is high plants have a capacity to reach down for water. This does not mean that all plants are healthy. These conditions create stress and there are possible 15% of the plants shedding leaves and looking very sad.

Our investment in a Ladurna cultivator this year must have helped in both reducing weed competition, but also combining that weed growth back into the soil around the plant. The use of compost to improve organic matter in the soil is an on-going concept to improve the health of the soil and potentially improve its moisture retention. We will be using a combination of wood chip and green waste compost this autumn to keep this process going. The ability to combine it into the top tilth with the Ladurna will hopefully increase the incorporation and benefit process.

Irrigation is an option. It is my personal belief that if we are going to see more long hot summers then the plants have to work harder, their roots need to go deeper and the soil needs to retain more available moisture. Irrigation will be useful in establishing plants in their first two years, but as a tool for yield enhancement I am personally not convinced that there is benefit.

This year our Augustina were irrigated every two days to see if the few berries there were might improve in size. Unfortunately there seemed to be no response. A more technical approach might be worthwhile with a nutrient irrigation package but strictly on a trial basis. As we have limited capital investment available this can probably be better focused elsewhere.

Investment capital is a precious resource and this year it has been channelled into developing a facility to mechanically harvest our crop. The fact the crop has been tiny has strangely been a real advantage. The development of any new system takes time to plan, but it is the practical implementation that reveals the real issues.

The harvest processing site we have built from a collection of two refrigerated lorry bodies, two large portacabins and five containers. The temporary nature of the site is with an intent to develop harvesting/processing ideas from concept to full development on a small, low cost scale that can then be moved into a new building once we fully understand what we need. The site will comply with food hygiene regulations and this will also cover how we operate in the field as well as within the buildings.

We started harvesting our Latvian berries a week ago and each day the process has been refined. The process requires the cutting of branches and them being brought back to the site for freezing in a new cold store. The cold store temperature is set at running down to -24 deg C, with a concept of wanting to freeze the berries as fast as possible. We have found that with an ambient temperature in the 30s, simple issues such as loading branches into the cold store requires skill to prevent the store temperature from rising and compromising its ability to blast freezer the incoming crop.

The newly designed berry separator has arrived and is being operated in a chill room at temperatures of between 2-5 deg C. The machine is designed for this, but as a prototype it will require on-going improvement to create the ideal machine for the job.

We are already looking to a redesign of the linkage between the cold store and chill room to ensure a consistent working cold temperature. We have been told that we are a low risk operation in terms of food hygiene management, but even so maintaining high standards is our target and each practical step requires refinement to achieve the right level of practical approach.

It is this transition of working to create an efficient, workable harvesting system that is taking time. If we had had a heavy crop this process of developing the harvesting system on the job would have been challenging.

But as it is, by next year we will have created a mechanically assisted harvesting process that will accommodate the crop that we had in 2017. That is farming for you. Each year is a new year, which is what makes the job worthwhile.

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The Trials of Mother Nature

britishseabuckthorn

In June 2017 we were preparing for our potential first harvest of Siberian sea buckthorn. There were berries on almost all bushes, three to four kilos on some varieties – between eight and ten on variety Chuiskaya. Brix measurements started on June 22nd had figures of 6.5 to 10.5, with each variety jumping into double figures by the end of the month. The problem was that we had no means of harvesting the berries fast enough.

A trip to Siberia in September, then Warsaw to the Euroworks conference provided the opportunity to dissect the issues from harvest 2017. It seemed that the evidence was there that we could grow a good crop of berries – all we needed to do was develop a viable harvesting system.

Good fortune struck again with a trials harvesting equipment designer being based no more than 30 miles from our farm. Added to this, a grant application to fund 40% of the costs of the design and build was accepted.

What could possibly go wrong, harvest 2018 looked like being the culmination of nine years of work.

On March 17th the snow began – a storm now called the “Beast from the East”. The following days of snow and bitterly cold weather ran into what was pollination time for the sea buckthorn.

Sea buckthorn are wind pollinated, so male plants release pollen to be carried by the wind to receptive females.

The weather was cold and the wind was bitter. Of course the plants come from Siberia, where the weather is far more extreme. But our Siberian plants have adapted to our mild coastal climate in Britain. In their native environment they would emerge from winter in April/May. Our first plants start to emerge from dormancy in January, developing into full leaf by March. This development process triggers the development of pollination in mid March – just at the time when the Beast struck.

Hence the weather disrupted pollination. There are some berries on varieties Altaiskaya and Klaudia, but Chuiskaya plants– which were heaviest in yield in 2017,  now carry little more than 200 grams each.

This is the nature of farming, but in terms of timing this situation is an unprecedented setback.

Being positive the harvesting system is almost completed and the 200-300kg of what is left of the crop will be enough to test the equipment.

We are trying to irrigate some plants to see if it will improve the berry size. We will also be picking at different stages of ripeness to find the optimum brix measurement for the best taste. Waiting for full ripeness leads to falling vitamin levels and characteristic sharpness. We need to find a taste that is full of balanced flavour.

We have also tried digging up some of the suckers from Altaiskaya variety to pot on and use as replacement plants. Even though we used a mycorrhizal powder the result was a complete failure. The plants once potted died within ten days showing no recovery. It was worth trying, but we will look to buying in 2 year old plants from Siberia again when we expand the orchard.

Although it has been disappointing the vision of the 2017 crop is still firmly in our minds. The purchase of a ladurna cultivator for weeding; a mower and a tractor mounted sprayer for applying foliar feeds, and a harvesting system are all promising success to the future. It will just have to be 2019 not 2018 – learning by experience is often bitter, but are lessons well learnt.

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Soil Nutrients and Berry Nutrients

britishseabuckthorn

The winter of 2018 has been a marked change from the norm of almost all the winters since we planted our first sea buckthorn plants in 2009. The norm up until now has been so mild that the Siberian plants have been emerging from dormancy in January. The variety Klaudia has always taken the lead, with the earliest having been December 31st.

This year however has been characterised not only by a week of dramatic snow this month, but also frosts through January and February. As a consequence even Klaudia decided that this was actually winter and finally only started to emerge on January 22nd. Growing any crop brings with it the issue that we have no control over the weather. It alters each growing season and that has an impact on the crop. Moving a plant from a country like Russia with its continental climate to the maritime environment we have at Devereux farm on the Essex coast was always going to bring with it an issue that the plants would need to adapt.

The principal first major event in the growing calendar is pollination. There were signs that our Siberian male plants where showing movement in the upper buds of the plant on February 23rd. The snow struck all through the following week, then thankfully it cleared, but as if to ensure that we did not forget it had happened a second dose came over the weekend of March 17/18. The relevance of all this is whether it will impact on pollination as some female varieties, particularly Sudarushka and Altaiskaya are not as forward with leaf development as some of the other varieties. As I write this now approximately 60% of the buds on the males are cracking open. This is a significant move from three days ago, so I suspect pollination might start towards the middle of next week.

On the basis that we had a good yield of berries last year the Siberian males (Gnom variety) have proven themselves to pollinate successfully. My concern though is that of all varieties they are susceptible to disease, and even fully mature plants die over a season.

Yesterday I attended a Soil Health seminar run by the Head of Horticulture at the Soil Association, Ben Raskin. As the sea buckthorn is registered as organic there are limitations to what one can and cannot use when controlling pests and diseases. One of the options discussed was biochar. This is charcoal enriched with beneficial fungi, bacteria and trace elements gained from seaweeds.

Part of the issue of growing trials is the need to find solutions to problems, and I need to find a way of supporting the health of my males. If the males are failing because of soil based pathogenic fungi then Biochar might help – so this will go on the list of work for this year.

The soil health seminar also focused on the use of different composts and woodchip mulches. The woodchip trials being both with composted and un-composted chip. Woodchip for our soil at Devereux will provide a great source of organic matter in a form that should improve the soil ecology, structure and nutrient content. Better soil will reduce stress on the plants and reduce the risk of disease. The other half of the reason to improve the soil is the hope that we can improve the availability of nutrients available to the plant that might increase the quality of the berries.

The nutrient quality of our berries is important as sea buckthorn is recognised as a “super fruit”. With this label it needs to maintain its capacity to contain higher than normal levels of vitamins, carotenoids and myriad of polyphenols that are the basis of its potential to deliver benefits. Omega 3 comes into this category – an important nutrient so often associated with fish oil, but now being increasingly provided through plant sources.

We always have to remember that like all crops, sea buckthorn is a natural product that is a product of the environment it grows in. Every year the weather is different and that will impact on both the yield and quality of the fruit. Soil management can help to reduce the variability of a crop and that is something we need to work on to deliver a consistent quality, good tasting fruit to customers.

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The science of blueberries

britishseabuckthorn

In 1963 the sea around our farm on the Naze froze. Lobsters and crabs crawled up the beach to get out of the cold water, only to freeze on land.

This week snow has again come to the UK. Maybe our Siberian sea buckthorn plants will feel more at home having some real winter temperatures but by next week it will return to normal. I hope it will because our plants develop early and it would be a disaster if these wintery conditions coincided with pollination.

Like the weather our world is changing, its human population is growing in number, sophistication and affluence. The world’s cities are growing and with growth comes the demand for global superfoods often driven by trend, fad and fashion. In the UK avocados have become a luxury staple food, but in China the demand is exploding with demand going from 1.5million kilos in 2013 to 30 million in 2017.

Here superfruits like blueberry have seen 11% year on year growth in consumption for a decade. All season demand has been met by investment in growing methods and plant breeding to respond to global trade. Fresh, good tasting foods with a declared high nutritional value must be a winner. But in this information age internet sites and media give so confusing viewpoints. Take blueberries for example. If you type in “Why are blueberries good for your health” you get the Telegraph, the Mail, Mercola.com giving glowing health benefit offerings on cell protection, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, protection of brain neurons, anti-aging and so on – whereas the NHS says research is inconclusive, but valued as one of your “Five a day”.

We rely on scientific research for knowledge but its interpretation is often hard to understand. Last month the Commissioner for European Health and Food Safety suggested that there was a general mistrust of science by the public. This was not because science was not credible but in an era of evolving scientific advancement, communicating results in plain language was poor. People often do not understand research results and so it is easily rejected by negative, and false negative subjective views found on social media sites.

Sea buckthorn is a fruit similar to blueberry. Like blueberry it is nutrient rich, containing flavonoids, polyphenols, and anthocyanins and so on – but do we really need to understand the science of precisely how a fruit delivers a specific benefit to appreciate it is good for us. The internet site providing  views on blueberry, both those of the press and the NHS both say it is good for you, whether it is the anthocyanins and your brain, or the antioxidants and your cells does it matter? The principal issue is that the food is natural and not ultra-processed, is that not enough?

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Investing in machines – benefits and challenges

britishseabuckthorn

This week as a pair of hares came looping down the sea buckthorn rows it was clear that spring is coming. Varieties Jessel, Klaudia, Etna and others are showing leaf. The year is already underway and it is a crucial year when we have to pull all the knowledge we have accumulated since 2009 into focus to deliver our first harvest and take it to market.

Time is always a precious commodity. Weeding has stolen many days each year. Our first 2018 investment in a Landini tractor and ladurner cultivator will buy back this time. First trials show an excellent job, rotovating the weeds in the area close to the plants creating an organic mulch of the top soil. The first pass of the machine has cut the shallow lateral roots of the plants and we will have to wait to see if this creates any detrimental impacts. It may be the plants compensate by establishing deeper roots, which could be positive in the long run to help sourcing a deeper water table in dry summers.

ladurner cultivator

Adopting the Ladurner cultivator raises some thoughts regarding the sea buckthorn fly (Rhagoletis batava). It can destroy up to 50% of the crop, and although not seen in the UK yet has expanded across Asia and Europe. As we are determined to maintain our organic form of growing sea buckthorn, the option of using chemicals is not available to us. Netting all the plants offers a first line of defence, but over a large area can netting offer a 100% option?

The sea buckthorn fly lay eggs which become larva which overwinter in the soil beneath the plants. One suggestion is to create a barrier on top of the soil preventing the larvae from penetrating the soil and leaving them exposed to the elements and insect predators. The Landini will create a soft open soil under the plants for these larvae to burrow into, so our mechanical solution to weeding may solve one problem and create a worse one. As part of our trials we will look at increased autumn cultivations after the egg hatching season as this might kill fragile larvae in the soil.

Moving away from the farm, this week has revealed research on the potential hazards of consuming ultra-processed foods. Consumer demand for convenience and the food industry response needs to always focus on the fact that food is a primary means of maintaining health. The quality of ingredients and how they are treated impacts on the nutritional value of any food to benefit the end consumer.

Ultra-food processing is extreme but the issue of nutritional quality is something we need to focus on in developing our sea buckthorn crop, harvesting and how it reaches our consumers.

Our field management must cross check on sustainability. How we can reduce bought in inputs, reduce our impact on the environment – but more than that, maintain and improve the biodiversity around us. This will provide a good soil. A good soil will deliver a healthy plant and the necessary nutrients and trace elements that improve fruit quality.

Harvest needs to be fast and clean. The concept is simple but ensuring quality comes from being continually critical of the process. With 2018 being our first harvest quality is both our vision and our challenge.