Overwintering Lettuce for market or for seed.

We didn't get any lettuce seed last year, mostly because we lost the plastic off the tunnel the year before, and didn't over-winter it. So, it was sown in the spring, flowered during the soggy season, and succumbed to fungus. 

Last September I sowed again. Its a good time tow sow lettuce, because you can plant out in a polytunnel as the tomatoes are cleared out, and have a fine early crop from February to April. Then you can start again with the tomatoes and cucumbers.

The seedlings were planted out in October.

At end of January they were looking pretty good, partly because the weather was pretty mild. These three are Grand Rapids, Crispmint and Ear of the Devil.

The Wonder of Four Season, below, were ready to cut during February and already gone over by the end of March, when this picture was taken. 

The Outregious produced the biggest heads of loose leaves that would have been great in salad bags.  Outregious was bred by Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds.

The Crispmint heads are beautiful now and would probably sell well so long as people recognised them as lettuce.

The lettuce below is a baby leaf lettuce called Dane, which I am trying for the first time. I got it in America last year. It has unusual frilly, icebergy kind of leaves that would add a bit of texture to a salad.

Soraya is a butter-head lettuce that I have had for years and kept because it has a lot of disease resistance and successfully produces seed.

Likewise, Cerise, a red salad bowl type lettuce reliably produces seed and is a productive lettuce for the home garden, its not much good for the market as it wilts quickly.

Angustana is a stem lettuce, I haven't really got around to eating the stems. If they get to that stage I usually leave them to seed but maybe I should try this time. The leaves are good to eat too, and this one is a bit small because I raided it for leaves.

For some reason most of the Optimas and Little Gems died,  I have never had much success with them for seed, unfortunately, because I love Little Gem and so do many of my customers. Optima is an unusually fleshy leaved butter-head, with really dark green leaves, that I have tried to get seeds of several times and failed. I didn't take a picture of the Little Leprachaun or the Ear of the Devil lettuces, maybe another day. 

Well here goes....

I am going to take up The The NewFarmerette's Challenge and write a blog a day for April. I probably start one in my head everyday anyway. One that has started in my had several times and never got any further is to say that Mike is no longer working at Brown Envelope Seeds. For the last four years he has worked with me, and been very badly paid for all his help. In spite of this the business cannot support both of us, and so, sadly, I am doing it on my own again. Sometimes we worked well together and sometimes we didn't. Living and working together is a challenge, and trying to keep any kind of business together at the moment is really hard.  I  want to say is thank you to Mike for all he has done for Brown Envelope Seeds and good luck with what ever he decides to do next. I could just say to him, couldn't I?

Masters degree in Organic Horticulture in Lissard

I was delighted to be invited to the presentation of  Belling awards to two students at the UCC run Masters degree in Organic Horticulture in Lissard, last week.

Kitty Scully and Michael are two of the fifteen students who have almost finished the taught part of their course, and are now embarking on research projects.

According to its website the course aims to:

 "The aim of this programme is to provide students with both the scientific principles and the practical applications of organic horticulture, the growing of vegetable, fruit, herb and flower crops in a sustainable environmentally protective manner. A strong scientific foundation to organic horticulture is provided to help students apply their practical knowledge; for example, an understanding of plant form and function helps one to identify crops which grow synergistically together in inter-crops, a mainstay of organic horticulture, producing better yields together than separately. Graduates will receive training in practical organic growing, both open ground and in polytunnels, from experts in the subject, from how to select your own crop varieties to how to erect a poly tunnel, for example. Because one of the factors holding back organic production in Ireland is the lack of targeted research appropriate to this country, emphasis will be placed on graduates being able to test new methods, cultivars etc. in a scientifically rigorous way, leading to a body of research knowledge from this programme of value to Irish growers"

West Cork which is renowned for its 'artisan' producers.  The reason this area has so many such producers, seems to be because small farms in West Cork, deemed unviable between the 1960's and 1980's, came on the market and were bought by 'hippies' and 'blow-ins' who, along with Irish farmers, who married 'hippies' and 'blow-ins' have been the drivers of the artisan food movement in the area. The main winner of the Belling artisan food award last year, Veronica Steel of Mileens cheese and her husband Norman started making cheese in 1978, way out on the Beara.  Millens cheese and many of the cheeses that came after it  have had a close association with the UCC's Dairy Science faculty. West Cork cheeses have inspired farm house cheeses all over the country in the last thirty odd years, and it would be great if horticultural projects here could be models for other places.

I do hope the research carried out by the students will be appropriate to local growers, as we are all struggling to make a living. It is sad that probably our youngest organic producer Eric has emigrated to Canada because he can't make a good enough living. Most organic producers I know, are over 50, and most of them have some other form of income, as well as growing. There are lots of young people who would like to make a living from the land. The popularity of horticultural courses in Skibbereen, in Rossa college, and the Sutherland centre, the new horticulture degree course in CIT, which is run in conjuction with Teagasc, at Dararagh in Clonakilty,  and the Permaculture design course in Kinsale clearly demonstrate this.

There are a lot of limiting factors to making a living out of organic production, the lack of research being only one of them.

Two important ones are the quality of land on organic farms and the size of the local market.  Many organic growers have not come from a farming background, and bought land before they knew much about growing. Poor land makes it very hard work to make a living, but it has made some great growers. There isn't a huge market for fresh vegetables in West Cork, as the population is quite small. We tried having a co-op and sending stuff to Cork city, but that ended badly. The small size of the local market and the inaccessibility to a larger one means that organic producers are not highly mechanised. A mechanical potato or carrot harvester, or a cold store for roots, or an onion drying facility is uneconomical for a small grower. Mechanisation and scale limit local growers and keep prices high. It just about works out profitable to dig early potatoes by hand for the summer market, but local organic growers cannot compete on price, with large mechanised growers, for winter potatoes, carrots and onions. That is why they produce things like salads, which have a short shelf life and a high price.

Flower fruit and herb production have only been carried out on a very small scale, in west Cork as the market for these things, in the area, is even smaller than that of vegetables. They are crops with a short shelf life, or crops that to be economical need to be done on a large scale, mechanized, and transported to an area of larger population.

My question is: why do so many people want to learn to grow food, when it is really hard to make a living doing so?

independently funded articles on GM potatoes

http://www.biofortified.org/genera/studies-for-genera/independent-funding/ is a list of 126 articles on GM foods, apparently independently funded. 10 contain potato in the title.


Only two involved feeding potatoes to animals:

Ewen SWB, Pusztai A (1999) concluded that it made the rats sick. 

Rhee, G.S., Cho, D.H., Won, Y.H., Seok, J.H., Kim, S.S., Kwack, S.J., Lee, R.D., Chae, S.Y., Kim, J.W., Lee, B.M., Park, K.L., Choi, K.S., 2005.  concluded that the rats were fine.   I could not find the complete article
online.


Kuiper HA, Hub P J M Noteborn, and ACM Peijnenburg. 1999 Adequacy of methods for testing the safety of genetically modified foods. Lancet 354:1315-6. This paper suggests  Arpad Pusztai's research was flawed.

I can't find this on the internet but would be interested to read it. 


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmed/18320254  assesses the bioavailability of carotenoids in GM potatoes, and involves subjects eating 1100g of potatoes on two occasions a week apart. This may have been enough to assess its bioavailability but it does nothing to assess its safety as a food.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242293/?tool=pubmed  describes mass spectrophotometer fingerprinting of GM and non GM potatoes but does not include any feeding trials.

Defernez M, Gunning YM, Parr AJ, Shepherd LV, Davies HV, Colquhoun IJ. (2004) J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Oct 6;52(20):6075-85. NMR and HPLC-UV profiling of potatoes with genetic modifications to metabolic pathways. describes differences in metabolites in various GM and non GM cultivars. It finds differences but said they did not appear important, again no testing on animals.

Enot DP Manfred Beckmann, David Overy, and John Draper (2006) Predicting interpretability of metabolome models based on behavior, putative identity, and biological relevance of explanatory signals PNAS October 3, 2006 vol. 103(40): 14865–14870 How to work out whether plants have substantially equivalent metabolite content, including an analysis of transgenic potatoes. another metabolite fingerprinting exercise, without actually testing any of the potatoes on animals or humans.


Next is: Lehesranta,Satu J., Howard V. Davies, Louise V.T. Shepherd, Naoise Nunan, Jim W. McNicol, Seppo Auriola, Kaisa M. Koistinen, Soile Suomalainen, Harri I. Kokko and Sirpa O. Kärenlampi. 2005. Comparison of Tuber Proteomes of Potato Varieties, Landraces, and Geneticallyn Modified Lines. Plant Physiology 138:1690-1699.

it has a lot of information about proteomes and the differences between varieties both GM and other wise but no conclusions about how safe they are to eat. 

The eighth is Rhee, G.S., Cho, D.H., Won, Y.H., Seok, J.H., Kim, S.S., Kwack, S.J., Lee, R.D., Chae, S.Y., Kim, J.W., Lee, B.M., Park, K.L., Choi, K.S., 2005. Multigeneration reproductive and developmental toxicity study of bar gene inserted into genetically modified potato on rats. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health A 68, 2263–2276. 

This paper concluded that the GM potatoes didn't do the rats any harm, but I cannot find the complete paper only the abstract.

Shepherd LV, McNicol JW, Razzo R, Taylor MA, Davies HV (2006). Assessing the potential for unintended effects in genetically modified potatoes perturbed in metabolic and developmental processes. Targeted analysis of key nutrients and anti-nutrients. Transgenic Res. 15(4):409-25. Again I could only find the abstract and it did not refer to the safety or otherwise of eating GM potatoes.


 

Why I don't want Teagasc's GM potato trial to go ahead

At their research facility Oakpark, Teagasc have inserted a Late Blight phytophthera infestans resistance gene into Desiree potatoes and have been growing them in green houses. They now have  permission to trial them outdoors. This blog outlines why I don't want this to happen.

Potato flower showing yellow stamens which produce pollen, surrounding
the green stigma which accepts it, for fertilization of the eggs below.

GM plants are  different to normal ones due to the method of insertion of the GM genes. During normal reproductive behavior, plants arrange their genes, in a specific way. When a gene is inserted by a living vector or a gene gun, there is no control over where the gene is inserted into the chromosome and so it may cause unpredictable changes in the genetics of the plant.  It may change the expression of existing genes, tuning them on or off, it may scramble others, and it may cause the production of new proteins.

Potato berries look like their relative, the tomato. They contain true potato seed (TPS)

Arpad Pusztai who worked in the Rowlett Research Institute, in Scotland, tested GM potatoes, into which a snowdrop lectin gene had been inserted. He fed them to rats, as part of a mixed diet, using unmodified potatoes as a control and also feeding a group of rats on the unmodified potatoes injected with lectin. He reported health issues in the rats eating the GM potatoes but not in the other two groups attributing the problems to the modification process.  Pusztai's and Ewan's peer reviewed results were published in the Lancet in 1999.  There is a good pod cast of Arpad Pusztai being interviewed here  

The potato that Teagasc is working with is the domestic cultivar Desiree, Solanum tuberosum into which they have introduced a gene from a closely related, but different species, Solanum venturii. Because these two species are capable of hybridising naturally they are calling it cysgenic rather than transgenic. What this means is that the gene could be introduced by traditional plant breeding methods. However, it would take longer to breed a commercial cultivar as the progeny would have many of the traits of the wild venturii species, and would have to be back crossed to the domestic potato for several generations to improve it. Desiree is a prolific producer of pollen and seeds. The trial will no doubt be carried out very carefully to ensure that there is no genetic drift from the trial to other potato crops however the GM genes could be transferred several miles by pollen on insects, and the seeds could be transferred by machinery or by people deliberately taking them to grow out themselves.

Members of the potato family, also known as the Night shade, or Solanaceae family contain many poisonous substances.  Potatoes leaves and fruit are poisonous and although potato tubers contain only small amounts of glycosides this can easily change if they are left in the light. It is possible that the GM process could cause the production of some new poison in potatoes either brought from the venturii species or caused by mutations and genetic disruption around the site of the inserted gene. It seems Teagasc have no plans to test for toxicity in the GM potatoes.

The trialling of GM products on animals to assess their safety has largely given results showing that the animals didn't suffer. Some are reviewed here. Of the 42 reviewed here, only two showed negative results. However both were in potatoes. One of the worrying things about modern scientific research is how much of it is funded by industry. The fact that Puzstai's contract was not renewed after he found problems with GM potatoes,  and said on television that he wouldn't like to eat them, (he was working for the British government) makes me wonder who would fund unbiased research, or allow publication of negative results.

Contamination of Non GM crops is inevitable once they are released to the public. In their own trial Teagasc showed that Desiree pollen travelled over 20m, carried by a beetle. They did this by planting Desiree potatoes surrounded by Golden wonder potatoes. As Golden Wonder potatoes are male sterile they do not produce berries unless they receive pollen from another cultivar. They found a small amount of viable seed on the Golden wonder potatoes, more than 20 away from the Desiree potatoes.

Seedlings from true potato seed do not all germinate in the second year. Unless great care is taken seedlings and their tubers could contaminate other potatoes. They might look identical to the original Desiree and could only be found using expensive tests. If Teagasc had chosen a male sterile variety such as Golden the risk would be considerably reduced.  If released this GM potato could cause invisible contamination of visually similar, non GM potato varieties.

Potato seedlings emerging under beans, in
my garden, two years after potatoes were grown there

On their website Teagasc refer to the fact that cysgenisis is being considered for exclusion from the scope of GMO legislation, by the European Commission. This would mean that  no license would need to be applied for for GM crops where the inserted genes were from a close relative.

Another piece of information on Teagasc's website is the fact that BASF has applied to the European Food Safety Authority for a license to market a GM late blight resisitant potato  and another GMO potato 'Amflora' has already been licensed. Amflora was developed for industrial starch production and not for human consumption. If the GM blight resistant cultivar were introduced here, it would be easier to introduce the industrial varieties and other GM crop species. Once GM crops have been introduced to Irish farms it will be impossible to prevent genetic drift into non GM varieties. It will be particularly difficult to control if wind pollinated crops such as sugar beet and maize are introduced. Bee pollinated rape seed will also be impossible to contain as it will become a roadside weed as it is in North America. This will compromise organic farming, which prohibits the use of GM crops. 

The apparent ease with which blight resistance can be introduced to potatoes is very attractive. Late Blight has become an increasing problem,  since it began to reproduce sexually in Europe.  The potato is the best producer of food per acre in terms of calories that we can grow in this climate. New potato cultivars are loosing their resistance quickly as the blight organism evolves. However introducing one gene by genetic engineering is unlikely to produce a lasting resistance. It is by growing genetically diverse strains of potatoes in a landscape of different crop species, that the best protection from evolving blight and other diseases is most likely to be found, in other words in genetic biodiversity. 

Breeding potatoes for blight resistance using traditional plant breeding methods is quite successful. Some of the most resistant varieties, that have cropped well here inspite of four bad summers in a row have come from Sarvri Trust. The Sarvri family have been breeding blight resistant potatoes, in Hungary for over 40 years, using traditional plant breeding methods, to transfer blight resistant genes from wild potato species to the domestic type. The Sarvari trust in Wales took up the work of the Sarvari family in 2002, preparing selected cultivars for commercialisation. Many of us have been growing Sarpo potatoes for years and have appreciated their blight resistance during the recent bad summers.  The future of the trust is now in doubt and its director David Shaw said at its open day that as little as £100,000 could make all the difference. You can listen to an interview with David Shaw here. 

In Ireland the organisation Spuds is organising trials of Sarvari Trust potatoes by volunteers. Here Nike Ruf is interviewed about the project. 

The consolidation of the seed industry is shown diagrammatically below. Three major chemical companies own or control most of the seed companies. This consolidation has happened in the last 40 years or so and has gone hand in hand with the reduction in available crop varieties. The introduction of  regulations for seed production, originally inteded to protect farmers form badly behaved seed companies now threatens agricultural biodiversity. As the seed industry consolidates the number of available varieties of seeds is reduced, especially  varieties that perform well without chemical inputs. 



 

Organic Sector Development with photos (unrelated) from Martin and Yvon's meitheal last Sunday.

I got a letter from Cait Curren, a member of the government's new Organic Focus Group asking for my thoughts on the organic sector. I spent quite a long time drafting my reply, so I thought I would put it here. If you read it, would you let me know in a comment. I have added some pictures of Martin and Yvonne's O'Flynn farm near Kealkil as encouragement to help keep you reading. We had a lovely meitheal there on Sunday

Dear Cait,

Here are a few of my thoughts on the organic sector, in West Cork.  I am involved in organic production on several levels. 

1, Education; As part of the West Cork College of Sustainable food production I teach organic horticulture. We also run courses on seed saving, plant breeding and growing staple foods, on the farm here. 

2, As Brown Envelope Seeds; We grow a range of vegetable seeds suitable for Irish conditions.

3, I produce organic beef.  

 Regarding expanding the organic sector, I do not see much scope in meat and vegetables as both are well supplied in this area. There is no incentive for organic beef production as the premium so low and the paperwork and logistics so tricky. 

I know most of the organic growers in the area, and from what I can see those making a living are doing so almost entirely in polytunnels, and supplying local markets. There is little room for expansion as we live in a sparsely populated area. Vegetables such as carrots and onions are imported because they cannot be produced as cheaply, on the scale that there is market for them. In other words, to grow them at the price they are being imported for, would require either slave labour, or large mechanised farms. There would not be a big enough market for the produce from large mechanised farms, and we are too far from markets to export them successfully. It is also difficult to produce them from a climatic point of view. Supermarkets prefer to bring in cheaper imported produce, than to sell local produce. There is also strong competition from 'chemical free' growers. Farmers' markets are thriving and along with the hospitality industry, seem to be the main outlet for organic growers, I think there may be scope for expansion nearer Cork city but I cannot see much scope for expansion in vegetable production here unless food prices rise considerably, 

However, I do think there is scope for new crops, especially if some research were done on their commercial production.

I believe there is scope for increased seed production of brassicas, beets, parsnip and spinach. These can all be produced outdoors. Indoor production of seed of any vegetable, grown in Ireland, is also possible. 

Quinoa is an expensive and useful staple crop. I have been growing it successfully for several years now and as it costs about 6 times the price of wheat. Although there are some problems with harvest and processing, I don't see them as insurmountable. 

I notice that whole food shops sell very little Irish food, often ordinary things like wholemeal flour and oats are imported, because they are cheaper than Irish products. Perhaps the focus group could work out why this is the case. Other products like linseed, coriander seed, and vegetable oil could easily be produced here if connections were made between farmers and wholesalers. 

West cork has a history of hemp and linen production. If the price of fibers rose it would be an excellent area to produce them. 

With considerable amounts of poor quality timber in the area, there is scope for biochar production. This could lead to lower imported inputs into conventional and organic agriculture.

Large numbers of non food garden plants are imported and could be grown here, however this is not an area in which I am informed.

Organic flower production needs to be researched, at current prices of imported flowers, it wold probably be hard to compete, but daffodils have been produced here in the past and there is no reason why flowers cannot be produced all year round in polytunnels, but this would probably be easier close to significant population centres. Again this is outside my area of expertise. 

 Education in schools

I believe the organic focus group should be working to get people growing their own food, where possible, rather than trying to create jobs.

This can be done by ensuring skills are learnt at a young age by introducing a food course in schools. Children can be taught how to grow and cook their own food. The leaving cert agriculture curriculum needs a major overhaul, (unless that has happened in the last couple of years). I was appalled by the narrowness of it when my daughter did it in school, There was almost nothing about horticulture, nothing at all about agriculture outside of Ireland, and I don't think there was any mention of organic farming either. 

Third level education

West Cork is already a centre of  horticultural education with the several colleges providing Fetac courses such as Rossa College in Skibbereen, which delivers a Fetac level 5 course. 

Kinsale college of further Education offers a Fetac level 5 permaculture design course which includes a FETAC level 5 horticulture qualification.

The introduction of a Masters degree course in organic horticulture at Lissard in Skibbereen and the introduction of a degree course in horticulture at CIT are positive developments in this area. The addition of an organic degree qualification in CIT would be welcomed. The practical part of the CIT horticulture course is run at Clonakilty agricultural college. 

 Agricultural research university

An agricultural research university, where organic and conventional agriculture can be compared in terms of cost, labour, and inputs and outputs, is badly needed. 

Nutrient Consevation

Research into nutrient conservation and recycling methods, such as no-till agriculture, biochar applications composting and recycling sewage and municipal waste needs to be done. 

Compost production

Most certified organic compost is imported into Ireland. Research into, and support for the production of certified organic compost for growers is needed.

New crops

Research into new crops needs to be carried out.

Plant pathology

A plant pathology lab where growers can bring get problems diagnosed and solutions suggested and also receive training could be established. 

Participatory plant breeding programme 

A participatory plant breeding programme for resilient crops, capable of adapting to climate change, and to Irish conditions is vitally important. This programme would include scientists, plant breeders, famers and agricultural advisers in developing new crops and new varietes for 21st century agriculture, in Ireland.

All these areas of research would be as relevant to conventional agriculture as organic.

I believe Clonakilty Agricultural college is ideally placed to fill this need. In conjuction with UCC and CIT, Teagasc could expand into these areas of research and training. It is an ideal site for this research facility. It has 140ha of excellent agricultural land, and superb teaching facilities, and student dormitories, canteen etc. 

 Food security

The organic sector is naturally placed to improve national food security, Incentives to grow staple foods for people instead of animals are needed, New crops that can become part of our staple diet need to be researched. It is very dangerous from a food security point of view to be depending on imported potatoes, wheat rice and pasta for our main calorific intake. 

Another food security danger is the high dependence of Irish agriculture on inputs like fossil fuels, seed, and machinery. 

Seed security could be achieved through the establishment of regional seed banks, at least one in every province.

Availability of land
A major constraint on organic horticulture is access to good land. Many of the best growers are producing food on the worst possible land. Making land available to local food initiatives needs to be done. A tax on the sale of agricultural land for development could be used to set up new entrants into horticulture, on suitable land, near centres of population. Unused development land owned by councils should also be made available.  Penalties to councils who do not supply allotments where there is a demand should be imposed. Councils should be empowered to buy agricultural land at agricultural land values where necessary, for allotments.

 Image

Organic farmers and growers have a real image problem to overcome in Ireland. Conventional farmers see them as critical of their produce and consumers see the produce as expensive, and are not easily convinced of its superior qualities. Education and publicity are needed to clarify what organic means because most people don't really know.

Farm Apprentice Scheme

A farm apprentice scheme would be really useful, I think students should visit farms more than once in a year so that they get a realistic view of the year round workings of a farm. Urban leaving cert Ag science students should have access to working farms, a scheme where school children could learn about farming in the same way as they are immersed in Irish college, could be established. A financial incentive for the host famers would help. 

 Marketing Structures

The developemnt of Farmers' markets depends on legislative clarity. There is constant confusion around market rights, the casual trading act and the new EU local government legislation. This prevents producers from participating in markets and entrusting their livelihoods to them. There is a social stigma attached to market trading which also limits their development. Co-operatev marketing of horticultural produce does not seem to work very well. I was involved in the West Cork Growers co-operateve which collapsed about 15 years ago. I would not be rushing into joining another one.

 Horticultural Development officer

A horticultural development officer would be useful to connect growers and potential growers to training and apprentice schemes and to identify the needs of suppliers and consumers of organic produce. Such a person could establish the seed needs of the organic horticulture sector by establishing on farm variety trials, publishing results and coordinating seed producers and growers. 

 In conclusion

Although horticulture is marginally profitable in this area due to stiff competition from imports, tough climatic conditions, and a small market, the future may bring new opportunities and incentives. With current world population growth, the peaking of agricultural land, and fossil fuels, the price of food is increasing and the euro is devaluing. Increasing food and fuel prices and devaluing of the euro will be good for local production. The fostering of basic skills at primary and secondary level would allow for a fast expansion in production if the economic conditions for horticulture improve. 

A legal frame work allowing access to land to new entrants into horticulture needs to be in place, for when that takes place.

A research facility, would have many benefits, such as developing new crops and varieties for Irish conditions.  It could also develop methods of minimising the needs for agricultural inputs, through recyling of nutrients, new growing techniques and soil additives such as biochar. This research would benefit conventional agriculture as much as organic. 

Both the organic and conventional agriculture is at risk from the break down of input supply chains, due to economic chaos. 

Fuel, seeds and other inputs, most of which are imported, should be stockpiled or produced at home. Any development of the organic sector should encourage the production of these inputs.

 Madeline McKeever
madsmckeever@eircom.net
www.brownenvelopeseeds.com
http://brownenvelopeseeds.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brown-Envelope-Seeds/
tel 028 38184

On 23 Jul 2012, at 11:07, Cait Curran wrote:

Dear Grower

The Government has appointed a new group called Organic Focus to progress the development of the organic sector and I am part of that group with the brief of horticulture and education.

The existing organic farming development plan is being reviewed and updated and I’m anxious that the priorities of horticultural producers will be reflected in the plan.

Of the ten primary objectives of the current plan, two relate specifically to horticulture and these are “to obtain approval for the appointment of an organic horticultural advisor” and “appropriate research in horticulture should be examined”. There has been little progress on either objective.

In 2010 the Organic Growers of Ireland made a submission on the development of the sector to the Minister for Horticulture and the priorities identified were:

1.      1.  The appointment of a Horticultural Development Officer who would provide support for growers through education/training, the development of a mentoring and advisory service and the development of market structures

2.       2. Research into organic methods to be carried out in Ireland

3.       3. Third level and post graduate courses to be developed

4.       4. The setting up of an organic farm apprenticeship scheme

5.       5. A support scheme specifically for growers to be established

6.     6.  New marketing structures to be developed

I feel that any objectives to be included in the new plan will have to be very specific and achievable, given the current economic climate.

I would appreciate if you could take the time to have a think about what you would consider to be the main priorities in developing the horticultural sector and let me have your opinion as soon as you can as I have to report back to the Department of Agriculture at the end of July.

Kind regards

Cait Curran

Tel: 087 2311580

email: ccurran@ireland.com

Madeline McKeever
madsmckeever@eircom.net
www.brownenvelopeseeds.com
http://brownenvelopeseeds.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brown-Envelope-Seeds/
tel 028 38184

Variety Trials

We have just returned form a fantastic weekend up at the Irish Seed Savers Association conference in Ennis. It is looking fantastic up there and it was a real inspiration to see how much is going on.

I am in awe of how well the gardens look.

and extremely envious of their new seed bank building

I was asked to speak about variety trials and below is a summary of my talk.

Sourcing the right seed for a farm or garden is critical to its success. Seed must be in good physical condition and it must be a suitable variety. Most growers have favourite varieties that are planted annually. However, the varieties available, the growing conditions on any given farm, and the demands of the market are constantly changing. Conducting variety trials offers growers an opportunity to continually select the best varieties available for their particular system. Most seed is produced in climates that are warmer and drier than Ireland and it is not adapted to conditions here. Traits such as the ability to germinate at low temperature, and seedling vigour are inheritable. So seed produced in your area is more likely to be adapted to your garden conditions, and seed produced in your own garden, even better.

When conducting scientific trials researchers replicate the (varieties) at least three times across the field in order to account for field variability. A single planting in the field is an observational trial. For most gardeners this is enough. Several varieties sown beside each other will give a lot of information. However to thoroughly know a variety it must be grown for several years and in different parts of the garden, and in different seasons, to assess its overall performance. A single trial is really only a snapshot.

I would be great if all gardeners in Ireland or even in West Cork were to do a variety trial of one vegetable and share the results, that way we could all benefit from the information. I have been trying different vegetables and different varieties for 25 years and have still only tried a small proportion of what is available. So please try and grow more than one variety of any vegetable and share the information.

When doing a trial remember to

1 Include a variety you are familiar with.

2 Choose varieties with traits you are looking for, such as disease resistance, yield, colour and flavour.

3 As far as possible, treat each variety the same way and grow in the same area.

4 Label the trial properly, and draw a diagram somewhere else incase your labels fade or disappear.

5 Record the results on paper. It is surprising how easy it is to forget, especially when several traits are being compared.

The photo below shows four varieties of swedes. The one on the left is a Dutch variety called Friese Jele, or Golden Friesian. In this particular trial sown in August last year it performed least well of the four. The other three are Irish varieties sourced from the Irish Seed Savers Association. All three, from the left, Best of all, Tipperary Turnip and Western Perfection, outperformed the dutch variety. Best of all did significantly better than the other two so we will be saving the seed from it this year.