The Apple Club Newsletter

Winter 2010

Welcome to our winter newsletter. I would like to wish all our customers and friends a happy Christmas, and here’s hoping that things will look up from 2011 onwards. Keep the best side out!

The weather

It’s often said that Irish people love talking about the weather. I for one certainly do. And what weather we have to talk about in the past while. From a fruit growers perspective we had a great summer, with just enough rain but not too much, and plenty of sunshine to produce some really tasty fruits. Before that we had a good spring, and when the apple trees and strawberry plants were in flower it was dry, which meant very little in the way of diseases. In the autumn, it was reasonably dry, and so picking the apples was easy, and now we have had the most amazing cold spell in many years. I’m hoping that it will not kill too many strawberry plants, as last year I did lose quite a few to the frost, but it is a bit too early to say yet, and it may still get colder later on.
Having just heard an old friend from Cahir (and now a lecturer in NUI Galway), Kieran Hickey speaking on the Pat Kenny show, I thought I should ask him about this strange year.
Much to my surprise, Kieran tells me that 2010 is going to be the hottest year or second hottest year on record globally, despite the very unusual cold spells that we have had. Also, according to Kieran, the sun spot activity is due to increase over the next three years, and this is associated with a hotter sun, meaning that the next three to four years will most likely be warmer than average also. Good news for us, but bad news for those in warmer countries, or those concerned about global warming, as any doubts about this problem are disappearing with every additional thing we know about climate.
One warning though, Kieran tells me that while the World-wide climate may be warmer, we may not be, as natural variation in weather can often mask the global warming effect in an individual country or area.
Which brings me to the fun part: our new weather station. In the late spring, Dermot Callaghan of Teagasc organised a fully automatic weather station for our farm, and for a number of other farms in the South of Ireland. It is located in our orchard, and every few minutes sends back a signal to the office, from where the weather data is sent to the United States. Indeed, if you wish to see the current weather at any of these stations you can view them at http://www.weatherlink.com/map.php or for our own weather station only visit http://www.theapplefarm.com/weather.html
The great thing about our weather station is that we can measure all sorts of things. It measures all the usual things like rain, wind and temperature, but also soil temperature, soil moisture (so we know if plants need watering), leaf wetness, which indicates if diseases are a low or high risk, and sunshine, which should tell us how actively our plants can grow. During the past summer we were able to watch our soil dry out, but the soil in an orchard 20km away was so much drier it was incredible. Then when it rained, we could see the soil water deficit disappearing over a few days. With all this information now available, we will be using a special computer program to analyse it, and this program will give us warnings of pests or diseases that might become problematic, so that instead of being taken by surprise, we know what to expect. I am so looking forward to next summer when all this starts happening.

A book on our field

A few days ago I was reading a thesis written by Ciara Hayes of University of Limerick, concerning the soil in one of our fields. When my son saw me reading he asked what kind of book I was reading, and so I showed it to him. Then he said “I don’t think many people are going to buy that book”. Just as well that there are only five copies then, but for me it is the most interesting “book” I could wish for.
Ciara spent the last 18 months working on the field in which we are growing our Miscanthus (Elephant grass). She mapped the field using a really refined version of a GPS system like in a Sat Nav for the car, and dug a network of trial pits at precise locations in the field, where she sampled the soil. The samples were then taken to the lab, and measured for many characteristics, but especially for carbon content.
The relevance of this work was explained to me by her supervisor, Dr. Ken Byrne from UL, who recently received a Nobel prize for his work as part of a team working on carbon in soils. As Ken said,   “ The idea behind growing Miscanthus is to remove greenhouse gases from the air, and we know that Miscanthus grass does this very effectively; however, if growing the Miscanthus causes a loss of carbon from the soil to the air as CO2, this may undo the good of growing the crop in the first place.”
So this experiment is designed to determine whether over the course of the next 5-10 years, carbon is lost from the soil, or added to it. To do this required a very detailed sampling of the soil, as soil carbon tends to vary significantly over short distances, and so to pick up a fairly small change over a short time frame like 5-10 years required a lot of soil testing.
After all the work, Ciara calculated the carbon content of our soil as about 120 tons per hectare. She also worked out that at a theoretical change of 3 tons of soil carbon per hectare over a five year timeframe, that the next researcher should be able to return to the field after five years and resample the exact same points using her GPS plots, and determine whether Miscanthus either causes an addition of carbon to the soil, a reduction, or maintains it at the same level as the previous crop, which in our case was pasture grass for livestock. I hope I will be here in 2015 to see the results.

In the farm shop:

We have our usual range of apples, including really beautiful Elstar, as well as that traditional favourite, Karmijn de Sonnaville. Bramley cookers are also available, as are Golden Delicious. Jonagold will also be available shortly.
We also undertake to have at least one type of eating apple on sale at 5 euros per box at all times, which is a lower price than even the cheapest special offers in the very cheapest supermarkets, and of course our apples are much nicer.
Our juices are as popular as ever and really good value, with a case of 12 large bottles flying out both to people who call in and by courier as Christmas gifts.  If fact, if you like you can even include a personal message when ordering online, and we will include it with the box when sending to your lucky friends.
The sparkling juice is going from strength to strength, with people coming from all over Ireland to get it, and again online orders are very popular too.
All the juices and jams make a great Christmas present, either in a presentation basket or bag, or with a few fruits. The apple jelly goes especially well as a glaze for the Christmas ham.

Ireland’s food trade

The success of Ireland’s food exports is often commented upon by those within the industry, as well as governments, commentators and so on. It is fantastic to think that we export 8 billion euros worth of food each year. This is money that the country badly needs, and because it is farm produce, much of the money makes its way right back through communities, and some ultimately to the farmer and the companies that farmers buy from. While congratulating ourselves about this, we should also consider Ireland’s food imports. Unfortunately, we will import almost 5 billion euros worth of food this year; much of which could be grown or produced in Ireland. At a recent talk addressed by Duncan Stewart (of Eco Eye on RTE) he gave an example of particular relevance to me as a fruit grower, pointing out that almost 100 million euros worth of apples will be imported this year; this comparing very badly with the 5 million euros worth of apples grown in Ireland. As one of a small number of apple growers in Ireland, I know that we all want to produce more, not least because it would be a patriotic thing to do. However, markets are not easy to access, with supermarkets very reluctant to do deals with small growers (which most of us are), as we would not be able to supply for long enough to make a deal worthwhile to them. The consequence of this is that many growers sell their fruits through various outlets, and it is not uncommon to see Irish apples at a farmers’ market, but very difficult to get them in the shop next door. However, this may be no bad thing, as research published by the new economics foundation in the UK shows that spending on genuine local production is much better for the economy than spending in a supermarket. In fact, this was quantified by showing that 10 euros spent in a supermarket was only worth 16 to the local economy, whereas the same 10 euros spent on local food, for instance at a farm shop or market, was worth 34 to the
local economy, as that money circulates again and again in the local area rather than disappearing to a corporate headquarters, or out of the country completely.
So remember, every time you spend, the few minutes it takes to figure out what is Irish will bring a payback to you and those around you. For maximum payback, head to your farmers’ market or buy direct from the producer.

Why artificial sweeteners do not work

The theory behind sugar-substitutes is simple. Take sugar out of foods or drinks and replace it with a low-calorie alternative; our calorie intake drops and we gain less weight. However, evidence is now mounting that this will not work. This is because while our mouths are fooled by the artificial sweeteners, our brains are not. Evidence published over the last few years shows that while sugars activate the relevant parts of the brain to reduce hunger, artificial sweeteners do not. So the next time you are considering a low calorie artificially sweetened drink, remember that you may fool your mouth, but it won’t work on your brain.

A nice award

We were especially happy to win the Bord Bia Top Fruit Grower of the year award for 2010. It was announced early in the year, and we were invited to the Bord Bia offices in Dublin, where we had a lovely lunch with the other award winners. We also received a hand-crafted glass plaque which has a high profile spot on the mantelpiece.

Two types of quality

On our farm we pride ourselves on growing and selling really top quality fruit, and making and selling top quality juices. So when, after getting the Bord Bia award. I joined an international quality system called Globalgap at the start of the year I thought it would be a doddle. Imagine my surprise when all the paperwork came, and none of it was concerned with how our fruit tasted, or how well our trees were looking, or anything that I might have considered would result in fruits of good quality.
As I came to understand, Globalgap is a quality system, and it is concerned with having systems in place, and proving that certain things are done by examining the paper trail. At first I was irritated and overwhelmed by the work involved, as I believed that we produced quality, and could not see the point of all the recording work involved. However, the more I got into it, the more I found that it was actually useful.
As an example, let me deal with apple bins. Before now we would wash the apple bins prior to picking the apples into them. Now we have a written cleaning policy which says how and when the bins should be washed, a record that is filled in when the bins are washed, and consequently proof afterwards (when the inspector arrives) that the bins were washed.
Now this may seem a bit excessive, as across the farm we now have all sorts of policies, procedures and records, and it does take some extra work, especially in setting up the initial policies. However, then I got to thinking of the benefits. Before now I would have to remember to tell someone to wash the bins prior to picking the apples, and all over the farm there were good practices that were happening only because I remembered that they should happen, having learned from experience that these good practices were necessary. With a quality system, it happens more automatically, and I no longer need to remember many of the things, as they are in a written blueprint that anyone can follow.
So now I am happy that I started this project. I understand that there are two types of quality; the type that you can taste and the type that works as a system in the background. They are totally different, and you can have one without the other. A quality system does not mean that you have quality produce, and people can grow quality produce without a quality system. However, I think it is nice to have both.

Recipe for mulled apple juice:

Ingredients:
1 bottle (750ml) pure apple juice
1 or 2 cinnamon sticks
Some cloves
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar (if desired, to your own taste)
Method:
Mix the ingredients and heat slowly to about 70oC. The longer it is heated the more spicy the flavour. 


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