"DOWN ON THE FARM"

JANUARY 2009

Welcome to the latest 'Down on the Farm' newsletter.

Farm Update

My regular newsletter seems to have changed to bi-annual rather than quarterly! I am at an age where I should be thinking of retirement but I get busier and busier. Since the last newsletter in Jan 2006, Keith has given up the chickens, so I now run both the poultry and the fruit. Unfortunately Keith got squeezed by high food prices which caused low profits; maybe he was far-sighted and saw the current recession looming. The market for all premium organic produce is under pressure, but I hope that the weak pound will at least make my fruit price competitive with imported produce.

Fruit

2008 has seen a steady increase in fruit production. Cherries were the star crop this year producing 2.5 tons of excellent fruit. Blackcurrants, blackberries and redcurrants also did well. Plums suffered from a late frost and were poor. Apples and pears were not up to 2007 standards (2007 was an excellent year for yield and quality) but still were OK. Gooseberries were once again disappointing; I plan to net them all this year to keep the pigeons away. Since the last newsletter I have reduced my area of raspberries and plan to replace the canes every four years - I hope this will reduce the disease problems. I have also reduced the area to strawberries and replace them every two years.

Pruning is well under way and gets more time consuming year on tear as the trees and bushes get larger. I start on the soft fruit in November and try to finish on the Bramleys in February. So far I have nearly finished the soft fruit and have done about half of the apples. It is a very cold job and I wear more clothes than when I used to go skiing!

I am still trying to sell Bramley apples; everyone seems to have lots. Maybe next year we organic growers will have to pool our resources and sell to a large multiple - perish the thought! Year after year packaging and delivery get more expensive but organic fruit prices stay the same or even drop, so I have tried to change to re-usable plastic crates wherever possible. They are more expensive initially and don't always 'come back' but I am sure this is the way forward.

Eggs

Most of the eggs produced on the farm go to a large packing station who then sell them as 'woodland organic' via the supermarkets. Before leaving the egg enterprise to Keith I had thinning 'private sales' to London and elsewhere, but the packing station put pressure on Keith to supply all the eggs to them or they wouldn't take any! The bullies got their way and Keith stopped the majority of 'private sales'. The organic egg market is now over-supplied, probably as a result of the recession; the packers are grumbling and I am expecting a 'Dear John' letter! I sometimes wish I still had these 'private sales' to give me a more diverse customer base.

2009 looks like being an 'interesting year'. I hope I am still standing at the end of it!

Happy New Year.

Kit

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