Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year

On this posting, I just want to wish our contributors and readers a Happy Christmas and a Prsoperous New Year and would love to hear from you all about your farming problems and solutions next year. Thank you for your support this year.

with kind and prosperous regards

The Eurolink Blog Team

South East Vineyards Association Trip - Part Six

In our last post, late by a day, we revisit the SEVA trip ending in Reims and then the journey home.

Reims

The last afternoon of the SEVA trip to Champagne was more relaxed with no hosted visits. Instead we had a huge lunch followed by a waddle around the lovely small city of Reims (the cathedral is beautiful and highly recommended) followed by huge dinner.

There may have been some wine and beer in there too. The dinner was at Boulingrin, a fish restaurant, which I would highly recommend. The staff were surly as hell, but perhaps that was part of the charm? Good food and lovely inside, and although they had stuck Les Anglais out of the way at the back, we still had a great time.

After that was the highpoint of the day: (I can't believe I'm saying this) the 11pm son et lumiere at the front of Reims Cathedral. Yes, it sounds naff, but in actual fact it was stunning. Specially conceived to celebrate 800 years, the show has to be seen to be believed (see the link above). The creators managed to "dress" each of the figures in colourful clothes, bathe the facade in any number of graphic styles and project construction workers at key points. All in a 20 plus minute show, which was both mesmerising and beautiful. I lay on the cobbles with the large crowd and lapped it up, not noticing the hardness of the stones. Then off to the bus for a late return to the hotel in Epernay

Back to Blighty

It was a long trip today in the coach back north through northern France, then the tunnel. The weather was beautiful, hence terrible in a coach but I'm back in on e piece having had a splendid trip. I'm unsure what was better: getting to know people in the English wine industry or having a brief insider's view of Champagne. Or maybe the best bit was that just-disgorged 1983...?

Great trip. Many thanks to the Foss and to Lila for organising it all (and for all that hard work translating for us more linguistically challenged).


Also thanks to Kenzie Graham, who documented this journey, his blog can be found here and he has a separate blog on bee keeping, this can be found here.

Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

South East Vineyards Association Trip Part Five

Malakoff and Mazy

The final day of the SEVA trip to Champagne opened with a trip to Malakoff vineyard where we saw a lot of impressive machines used to tend their 150 hectares. More interesting was hearing about how new regulations are ensuring producers act more responsibly with respect to resource usage and waste, especially waste water. We were shown a very wide plastic/rubber mat laid outside the winery (I thought more like a very, very large and shallow kids paddling pool I remember from my childhood) where all chemical preparations and machine washing-downs must take place. Tractors can drive on to be washed down. Many producers have created special concrete areas for this purpose. Waste water is pumped from there into special bags with porous tops which allow the water to evaporate over time leaving dried pesticides or other undesirable compounds to be taken away. The drying process takes 2 weeks to a few months depending on the weather and the time of year.


With Franck Mazy, who was hosting, we then left the winery yard to visit two local vineyard sites. He showed us an array of pests and nutrient deficiency, helping us to recognise symptoms. It’s fair to say it was very hard. Franck seemed a very credible bloke. He’s a consultant in the area (and in fact is currently doing some work with Nyetimber too) and he came across very well. He’s clearly a careful and thoughtful vineyard expert and seemed to have great depth and breadth to his knowledge. He was
clearly touting for business, but good luck to him.

Franck told us that the vines in Champagne are 3 weeks ahead of where they normally would be at this time of year, and that he had never before seen flowering in May. So these vines are 3-4 weeks ahead of this year in England. They are talking about an unprecedented 25th August harvest in Champagne.

But then don’t these things so often seem to even up towards the more normal dates nearer the time...?

The last installment next week.
Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

South East Vineyards Association Trip Part Four

Foam collars and Nucleation Collars

I was not alone being tired within the SEVA group as we started the early evening lecture session back at the hotel. Richard Marchal of Reims University presented on foam (the bubbles at the top of the glass, not the effervescence which comes up through it). We learned that the premier taille gives better bubbles than the cuvee, and that botrytis is the enemy of a well bubbling Champagne. And we were also told that filtering a sparkling wine reduces the fizz. The theory came on a little strong for the time-slot given, but things perked up as we watched Champagne being poured into different glasses (heights) and into glasses with 80 micro-dots laser-etched inside the bottom. Taller glasses lead to larger surface bubbles since the bubbles gain in size as they ascend through the liquid (gaining CO2). And those micro-dots sure did make the fizz fizz, though it only lasted 5 minutes or so.

The high-point came as the session ended with a tasting culminating with a 1983, zero dosage wine which had only been hand-disgorged hours before. Wonderful! So rich and complex. I’d have never guessed it was zero-dosage, so soft was the acid (though not flabby). Beautiful. One in the eye for my theories that sparkling wines need cork ageing, but then this wine was nearly 30 years old.

More next week.
Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

South East Vineyards Association Trip Part Three

Continuing the further exploits of the South East Vineyards Association Trip and one member of SEVA whose trip was part sponsored by the International Farmlink, we learn a bit about champagne corks.

This morning's first visit on the SEVA Champagne trip was to Oller, a manufacturer of Champagne corks in Reims. I say manufacturer, but they actually accept the prefabricated pieces (discs and crumbles) from their factory in Spain (where the cork forests are) and stick them together in Reims. This sounds easy, but actually it is a detailed process with many, many steps and quality measures and checks in place. Two discs form the bottom of the cork and the composite layer above is used since it is cheaper. Quite an interesting trip, and refreshing there was no accompanying glass of Champagne!

For the readers of this blog who are from France or have a smattering of French, I think there is an interesting video of some corks and an idea of investment in Reims on YouTube.

The afternoon's visit saw us at Nicolas Feuillatte (the website has links to English, French, German, Italian and Japanese sites), the huge cooperative. The visit was characterised by the wow-factor. Ohhh, what huge tanks you have. Ahhh, what huge and efficient machines you have. Yiiikes, how many bottles per year was that?

In fact Moet's production is twice as big, though Feuillate is the biggest seller in France, showing just how much Moet is marketed for export.

I'm not sure how much I really got from the trip. It was interesting that they don't use pectolytic enzymes to speed settling ("no time to add them", the man said, or somesuch as we whizzed around with our necks craning up at the huge tanks or down over the balcony to watch robots wrangling pallets full of bottles into shape).

Then there was the tasting. I'll be frank it left me a little cold. Perhaps the wines were a little sweeter than my normal taste. Some others in the group left the shop with Champagne in fancy packaging, but I did not.

More next week.
Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

South East Vineyards Association Trip Part Two

Continuing the journey of one of the successful applicants of the International Farmlink travel bursary, more information can be found here, we pick up the thread on our intrepid reporter.

Still on the SEVA trip to Champagne...Back at the hotel this evening we were treated to a Champagne tasting hosted by Steve Charters MW who works as an academic in Reims, which is pretty cool given that he is English. As well as being an MW, he is an expert in marketing and consumer behaviour.

The tasting contained some good Champagnes and some interesting ones. We opened with a zero dosage, 100% Pinot Meunier, which was characteristic and quite fruity, and very good but not my favourite. Better, to me, was the Paque et Fils, which was slightly oaked: the oak being very well integrated to give a fine round body but with great complexity of taste and a long finish.

We had a good conversation about the merits of lees ageing versus bottle (cork) ageing. A common view is that it's the lees ageing, which matters for Champagne, with this giving it the rich toasty autolytic flavours and rich integration. Consistently, though, for the past few days we are shown wines with significant periods of cork ageing and it's certainly made me wonder whether a good length of time both pre and post disgorging is important for a fine sparkling wine.

We challenged Steve for his views on English sparkling wine. He put forward some passionate views convincingly, urging English growers to pull together with one voice and to rally round a quality charter. The room was in broad agreement with his comments, only broken when we pushed him as what name English sparkling wine might succeed with. Steve pulled the straightest face he could before announcing that he'd be asking for royalties when we were all using his inspired idea. "Spurgle," he announced. There was universal loud laughter, including Steve himself. The point, of course, is that it's a tricky subject.

More next week.

Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

South East Vineyards Association Trip

This week, please find a report by a fellow blogger who used a travel bursary with International Farmlink and Eurolink's assistance to find out more about the production of Champagne. The writer was a city worker until he decided to go into wine production. His blog can be found here.

SEVA Champagne Trip report (22nd - 26th of June 2011) 

I’m off to Champagne with the South East Vineyards Association (SEVA)! This is a good opportunity to learn a lot more about Champagne, meet lots of English industry people and have a break. It didn’t start too well with the coach turning up an hour late, but soon we were on our way through the Channel Tunnel on our way to the world’s most famous wine region, to which I had only been once before. 

Champagne Jacquinot - The first visit of the SEVA Champagne trip was to Jacquinot in Epernay. Jean-Manuel is well acquainted with the English wine industry. He first worked with Nyetimber a decade ago, and since then has moved away from that to be the Wineskills mentor for sparkling wine, via which he visits and speaks to lots of English wine makers. He’s a very charismatic bloke, and his wines were tasting very nicely today. I particularly liked his Harmony’96 and Symphonie’00 so I bought some.

What did I learn from the visit? Well the topic of riddling came up and Jean-Manuel made the point that to get a good clarity in the resulting wine he always leaves the riddling crate to sit for a week next to the gyropalate so the lees resettles before starting the riddling. When loading the crate into the gryopalate, extreme care is taken not to move the bottles suddenly.

This morning I visited the CIVC, the industry body which represents Champagne  growers and houses. They are a powerful body who effectively have the power of law in Champagne. The CIVC is funded by a tax on both growers and houses, to the total of about 20 million Euros a year. Amongst other things they legislate to determine production methods and protect the brand worldwide. It was the latter which left the biggest impression on me given the strangely heavy focus the topic received in the presentation I saw. “Champagne” is only for Champagne, right! 

I also learned some basic facts, such as the harvest yield is about 10-12 tonnes/hectare, and land costs about 1 million euros per hectare. I already knew that Great Britain is the biggest importer of Champagne, but not the scale of this “lead”. Annual Champagne exports (in order) are: GB (35 million), USA (17 million), Germany (13 million), Belgium (9 million), Japan (7 million) and so on. Apparently only half the 35 million is actually drunk in Great Britain, with the other half finding its way to be re-exported elsewhere.

Plumecoq Experimental Vineyard - The CIVC run an experimental vineyard called Plumecoq. We were taken round by one of their viticultural researchers, and were impressed at the range and depth of work being undertaken. Perhaps most obviously impressive was the “precision viticuture” which took the form of a small tracked vehicle with GPS, computer and optical sensors. These sensors monitor canopy density and colour, hence indicating vigour and nutrient levels. Plumecoq monitors all vines once a week and has a few years of data already.

It was interesting to hear comments made about vine density. Champagne planting can be around 10,000 vines per hectare, about 3 times a typical recent planting in England. But the researchers at Plumecoq have trialled many different vine spacings and reckon the 2 metre row width makes sense. Going from 1 metre to 2 metres (with associated increases in canopy height) showed only a 20% reduction of yield. I was interested, though, that they said they saw a slight increases acidity in the grapes. But when taking into account the extra labour and machine costs of the higher density spacing, the view shared was that wider spacing probably made sense (especially in an era in which Champagne grape acidities are creeping down for climatic reasons). 

Perhaps the other most notable point I heard was regarding botrytis, and the result that a grass cover-crop reduces the incidence of this fungal disease. I had previously heard the opposite that grass makes the atmosphere humid and hence encourages botrytis. However, the researcher said that empirically the a grass sward reduced incidence of botrytis, and gave 2 reasons: that grass dries out the ground in general, and that the competition with the vines triggers a vine response which makes them less susceptible to botrytis. The second reason in particular sounds curious to me, though others in the group thought it matched with other things they had heard. 

Lastly of interest was an observation that there is more chlorosis in the region than in most years, despite the dry weather. We were told that the conventional wisdom is that chlorosis comes when conditions are wet, which causes increased dissolved calcium (from the chalk-rich soil) to antagonistically effect the vines’ ability to uptake iron. However, the increased chlorosis this year might be caused either by the high yield last year (hence decreased reserves within the vine) or the fact that vines are drawing water from lower down in the ground, an area with a higher concentration of calcium. Interesting stuff.

More next week.

Travel bursaries are available to contribute to the cost of study trips to help your business. If you are interested, please contact the International Farmlink.

A French Newsletter or the Eurolink Newsletter translated...

     SOUTH OF ENGLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

                        BULLETIN DE LIAISON d'EUROLINK AGRICOLAE CLUB

Chers membres,

Avec un temps inhabituel et une telle incertitude économique en Europe et dans le monde, cela n'a pas été une année tranquille pour continuer à vivre normalement; c'est donc une bonne chose d'envoyer les dernières nouvelles à nos amis de longue date à travers l'Europe.

L'information principale est de vous dire que nous avons lancé notre blog en juin, grâce à Peter Elliott, le fils de Margaret. Sans son enthousiasme et ses connaissances, cela n'aurait pu se produire, surtout que nous sommes les premiers à nous lancer dans ce nouveau mode de communication au sein de la SEAS. Cela nous a demandé d'avancer avec précaution, tout en ayant l'intention d'étendre ce blog en relation avec le reste de la SEAS. J'ai le plaisir de dire que la SEAS y travaille également maintenant. Cela sera donc vraiment facile à l'avenir d'avoir accès aux informations sur la SEAS et ce qu'elle fait. Nous avons déjà envoyé les détails au sujet du blog à ceux dont nous avons les adresses e-mail, mais pas à ceux qui ne sont pas sur notre liste et qui en entendent parler pour la première fois. Cela nous mène donc à vous demander de nous envoyer au plus vite, SVP, votre adresse e-mail actuelle à mon adresse personnelle pympesct@gotadsl.co.uk afin que nous puissions mettre à jour les données. Dès que cela sera fait, nous vous enverrons le répertoire avec le prochain bulletin de liaison.

Une deuxième bonne nouvelle est que bon nombre d'entre vous ayant répondu favorablement à la proposition de réunion en Italie en 2012, nous pouvons envisager de l'organiser; tout dépend de la disponibilité de nos contacts en Italie, mais nous prévoyons cette réunion pour fin septembre-début ocotbre.

Tous mes remerciements aux membres du bureau pour leur implication à soutenir notre travail, surtout que cette année n'a pas été facile pour moi; un merci tout particulier aux trois jeunes membres qui ont trouvé du temps pour nous apporter conseil et soutien. Et vous? où en êtes-vous dans le recrutement de nouveaux membres dans votre région? Nous espérons que notre blog nous aidera dans ce domaine et nous permettra d'étendre notre réseau.

Ginny Duncanson

Avez-vous entendu parler du blog de notre Club Eurolink?

Cela fait cinq mois que Peter Elliott travaille à la création d'un blog pour le Club Eurolink........ mais qu'est-ce que cela signifie dans le monde de tous les jours et comment est-ce que cela nous affecte en tant qu'agriculteurs et ruraux en Europe? Il y a mis une série d'articles dont le voyage sur la Tamise lors de notre dernière réunion, un article sur un jugement de bétail d'un point de vue hollandais, le salon de la SEAS de cette année, la création et l'évolution d'Eurolink, l'expérience d'un membre du Club assistant à une conférence agricole en France, les plantes invasives, pour n'en nommer que quelques uns. Il y a ajouté des articles traduits en français utilisant Google (peut-être que les membres français pourront nous dire ce qu'ils pensent de la traduction et si cela vaut la peine qu'on recommence à utiliser ce sytème de traduction). Mais l'important est que ce blog fonctionne dans les deux sens et Peter aimerait recevoir des réponses à ses questions : il n'a que 40 ans d'expérience en agriculture depuis son enfance et  vous avez une connaissance collective basée sur de nombreuses années; nous pouvons tous apprendre les uns des autres à travers ce moyen de communication. Donc à vous maintenant; vous allez sur : http://eurolinkseas.blogspot.com et vous nous envoyez votre avis. Si vous ne vous sentez pas de taille à le faire seul, demandez à un jeune autour de vous.

Si vous souhaitez contacter Peter Elliott pour plus de renseignements vous pouvez lui envoyer un e-mail à eurolinkseas@hotmail.co.uk

Jack Woodhead

Au moment d'imprimer ce bulletin nous apprenons que Jack Woodhead, l'époux d'Alison, est décédé subitement après une chute dans les escaliers. Jack a toujours soutenu de façon inconditionnelle le travail de la SEAS à l'étranger et son soutien discret et courtois va nous manquer. Il est mort quelques jours avant son 99ème anniversaire qu'il attendait avec impatience de fêter. Nous vous en dirons plus sur sa vie dans le prochain bulletin et sur le blog.

Qui a besoin de soixante sortes de pains ?

Charles Darwin commença comme suit : "Ce ne sont pas les espèces les plus fortes qui survivent, ni les plus intelligentes, mais les plus réactives au changement." Bloqués au bout des chaînes de ravitaillement, les agriculteurs se sentent souvent loin des consommateurs et à la merci des sociétés qui sont les intermédiaires et rendent difficile l'évaluation des changements et encore plus difficile d'y répondre. Au cours de ces cinq dernières années j'ai cherché à trouver des moyens de favoriser un plus grand intérêt pour le consommateur et une plus grande collaboration avec les chaînes agro-alimentaires. Le principe est de comprendre ce que les consommateurs apprécient dans un produit et ensuite de travailler ensemble à ajouter en qualité, à moindre coût et plus rapidement que la concurrence. Est-ce facile? - Non, sinon tout le monde le ferait. Cela demande de s'engager, d'investir et d'avoir les bons partenaires. Est-ce que cela vaut la peine? - Bien sûr. Se battre sur le bon rapport qualité-prix vaut mieux que sur le prix et le volume. Le tout est que tous puissent partager le gâteau et non de se battre pour avoir de plus larges parts du gâteau et que cela nuise à quelqu'un dautre.

Comment faire? C'est apporter aux acheteurs chez Waitrose qui veulent bien payer 20% de plus pour une qualité supérieure, comme ils le disent, des avocats "parfaitement mûrs" qu'ils peuvent manger le jour même. C'est tellement bien comprendre les acheteurs de pain qu'aujourd'hui Sainsbury propose en ligne un choix de soixante pains allant de 6p/100g à 50p/100g (= de 0.08 à 0.60€). C'est vrai que cela peut paraître fou, mais c'est de la folie dont quelqu'un tire du bénéfice. Et c'est aussi l'éleveur au marché que je dirige qui vend du boeuf de première qualité de ses vaches du South Devon : la viande racie de trois semaines est vendue directement aux consommateurs qui en apprécient la qualité et pour qui la qualité et la traçabilité sont plus importantes que le prix.

Cela pourrait-il fonctionner pour tous les produits agricoles? - Non, mais avec des collègues de deux universités australiennes, nous avons testé nos idées avec une entreprise qui produit plus de 30 tonnes de salades sous sachets par semaine; des légumes surgelés trannformés par une société qui a un chiffre d'affaires d'un milliard de dollars; du vin fabriqué par le neuvième plus grand établissement vinicole d'Australie; un fournisseur de porc frais au Canada qui a trouvé un créneau intéressant et plus récemment une compagnie qui en trois ans, à partir de vergers en piteux état, est devenue le plus grand exportateur de mangues d'Australie.

Vous n'y croyez toujours pas? - Cela se comprend : ce sont des recherches encore au stade expérimental et pas un modèle qui a fait ses preuves. Pourtant le PDG du détaillant canadien a conclu : "Cela a été une étude fascinante qui a révélé les forces et les faiblesses tout au long de la chaîne. Un bon mélange de connaissances théoriques et d'une approche de bon sens du marché." Et le PDG de l'entreprise de mangues a déclaré publiquement : " L'étude a eu un impact de taille sur notre approche. Elle a renforcé l'idée que pour "agrandir/améliorer le gâteau" nous devons livrer des mangues qui ont les qualités que les consommateurs apprécient et bâtir une stratégie en lien avec une bonne collaboration avec nos partenaires."

Tous nos projets sont suivis de rapports publics, dont on a enlevé toute sensibilité commerciale, donc si quelqu'un souhaitait des exemplaies gratuits, qu'il envoie un e-mail à benjamin.dent04@imperial.ac.uk ou qu'il appelle le 01892 870666.

Benjamin Dent

School of Agriculture and Food Sciences (Ecole d'agriculture et d'agro-alimentaire), Université de Queensland, Australie; Centre for Value Chain Research (Centre de recherches de qualité), Kent Business School (Ecole de commerce du Kent), UK; Président, Kent Farmers' Market Association, UK.

Rassemblement des membres du Club au Salon de la SEAS

Une vingtaine de membres se sont retrouvés au Pavillon International à l'heure du déjeuner le vendredi du salon autour d' un verre de vin. Niek Ruyter, président du Club, était venu des Pays-Bas pour assister au Salon; Matthew Barryman, président du bureau d'International Farmlink, était également présent. Présidente du Club, Ginny Duncanson, a accueilli tout le monde et a profité de l'occasion pour parler de la possibilité de faire la prochaine réunion en Italie en 2012 et mentionner le blog que le Club venait de mettre en place. D'autres membres sont pasés au Pavillon au cours des trois jours du salon : c'est l'endroit rêvé pour se rencontrer entre amis et se donner des nouvelles des uns et des autres.

                        Attention A Tous les membres

                                    TRES IMPORTANT

A l'avenir nous ferons circuler la plupart des renseignements au sujet du Club par e-mail;

surtout n'oubliez pas d'envoyer un e-mail à pympesct@gotadsl.co.uk pour vous assurer que le Club a bien vos coordonnées e-mail actuelles.

La réunion du Club l'an prochain aura lieu en Italie, probablement fin septembre-début octobre.

De plus amples renseignements dans le prochain bulletin de liaison.

Nous espérons vous y voir tous!

Eurolink Agricolae Club   Ocotbre 2011

Jack Woodhead and European Farming Statistics

Apologies for the delay in this week's blog entry, this was due to a combination of network and other problems.

It is with great regret that I bring you news that the long term member of Eurolink, Jack Woodhead, has died and a celebration of and thanksgiving for the life of Jack occurred on Wednesday the 19th of October 2011. A full obituary of Jack's life willl appear in a future blog posting. Our thoughts go to Alison, their family and friends.

On looking at a document from the European Statistics Office complied by Ole Olsen, entitled "A regional picture of farming in Europe - what, where and how much?"; I found that in 2007 the output of the 27 European countries (EU-27) was worth 360 billion Euros. Ninety three percent of this (335 billion Euros) being the value of core farm products including the associated subsidies.

The agricultural product of the above number was broken as 57.5% cropping and 42.5% with animals.

In the EU-27 (2007), a total of 172 million hectares are farmed in some way.

The new member states of the EU (NMS-12) are growing more arable crops (72.4% in 2007) compared to the original member states (EU-15), which is 56.2% in 2007. However the EU-15 are growing, what is classed as, more permanent crops, such as vineyards and fruit tree plantations to name a couple, 7.9% compared to 2.4% in the NMS-12. More information can be found in the linked document.

News from our Dutch Members

News from our Dutch members 

10 Dutch members met at Erik & Joke Ruesink’s Farmfair, unfortunately in bad weather. The Ruesinks welcomed us all and there was a great deal of chat and exchanging news, and then, after a very good meal, we went round the Fair together. There was a great variety of things to see, which was enjoyed by one and all.  Niek Ruyter, our Club President, told the members about the plans for next year’s Reunion in Italy, and quite a few people expressed an interest in joining the trip.

Did anyone take any photographs, please feel free to add them to the comments box at the bottom of this posting?

Using Google Translate, I shall attempt to translate the posting above into Dutch, do tell me in the comments box if I have succeeded or not. I apologise in advance, if it turns out to be rude.

 
10 Nederlandse leden ontmoet op Erik & Joke Ruesink's Farmfair, helaas bij slecht weer. De Ruesinks verwelkomde ons allen en er was een groot deel van chatten en het uitwisselen van nieuws, en dan, na een zeer goede maaltijd, gingen we rond de Fair samen. Er was een grote verscheidenheid van dingen te zien, die werd genoten door een en alles. Niek Ruyter, onze Club President, vertelde de leden over de plannen voor Reunion volgend jaar in Italië, en heel wat mensen interesse getoond in deelname van de reis.

Heeft iemand foto's nemen, aarzel dan niet om ze toe te voegen aan de opmerkingen box aan de onderkant van dit bericht?

Met behulp van Google Translate, zal ik proberen om de detachering boven in het Nederlands vertalen, doe me vertellen in de comments box als ik geslaagd of niet. Ik verontschuldig me bij voorbaat, als het blijkt te zijn onbeleefd.

In the last week, we had five views of the blog - 2 from the UK, 1 from France and 2 from China. It looks Russia's loss was China's gain. Have a good week.

Red Leaves and FARMA

Many apologies for the delay in this week's posting for the Eurolink blog. I was hoping to bring good news for the blog but this will have to await for another Monday.

So as the year draws nearer to a close, the apples are ending their harvest (have I got the right time of year) and the leaves on the trees are turning red - all but the coniferous ones.

You will in the next few weeks, I am reliably informed, for those members of Eurolink, part of the South of England Agricultural Society, will receive your newsletter in the post. Some of those articles may be republished and reworded after some time in this blog.

So back to the leaves, why do they turn different colours in autumn? A relatively easy article to read from How Stuff Works explains that the green leaves, containing chlorophyll, turn carbon dioxide, sunlight and water into energy through photosynthesis. Easy so far.  As stated earlier, the chlorophyll aids the transformation with the assistance of pigments carotene and xanthophyll. These pigments are found in all leaves, the carotene adding an orangey hue, similar to egg yolks, and the xanthophyll adding a yellow colour. However, when autumn comes, the deciduous trees prepare for hibernation in a two step process: primarily the tree creates a cork like layer at the end of each leaf so that it may eject the leaf at some point later in the year and thus it seals off the tree from potential infection; secondly, the production of chlorophyll decreases and this gives the carotene and xanthophyll a chance to add oranges and yellows to the leaf.  

The red colour comes from a different substance that is not present in all leaves, this is anthocyanin. Even if this substance is within the leaf, it may not produce the red colour in autumn as it depends on certain environmental parameters. The tree will try to recover as much sugar and energy from the leaf before it falls to the ground, and this is where the anthocyanin becomes necessary. It is thought that if the weather is still sunny and quite dry int he late summer and early autumn, a greater number of anthocyanins are released from the tree sap to the leaves in order to make more sugars and other nutrients. Some scientists say that other stress events, such as near freezing weather, can increase the level of anthocyanins. It is also thought that the red pigment acts as a protection for the leaf. So with the weather we have had, I expect to see increased amounts of orange (carotenes), red (anthocyanins) and yellow (xanthophylls) in the falling leaves. 

I expect some, if not all, of you knew this about the leaves of autumn. If not, I hope it has helped to understand the mystery, but not in too much detail.

In helping a friend, I came across an association for the National Farmer's Retail and Market or FARMA to give the association its proper acronym. It is a co-operative of farmers and producers who sell their produce on a local scale. It is said to be the largest organisation of its type in the world and represents the the direct sales link to customers from farm entertainment, markets and shops, home delivery, on-farm catering and Pick-Your-Own. 


FARMA also regularly inspects the aforementioned farm shops, et cetera as well as doing and publishing its own research to the general public as well as their members. This research includes why farmer's markets may close and can the traditional market survive. Is there such an organisation in Europe that deals with this form of farming commerce? Do you have trouble selling your produce in a farmer's market?


Also what subjects would you like to see discussed on this blog? It is good to see that our readers from last week have included the UK, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, France and the USA. If you see something you like or disagree with, feel free to comment.

Ambulance Chasing Insurance (edited)

You may have noticed that today's posting is late, I blame the Indian Summer that has invaded our normally autumnal October, so at 11.43 in the evening in the UK, which is the next day in mainland Europe; I broach a subject that may be slightly controversial. I am grateful to Paddy for his thoughts on this piece.

Have you had an accident in your car recently? Tell us how many solicitors, car hire forms and accident repairers contacted you It seems that a few insurance companies appear to be involved in, what can only be described as, ambulance chasing rackets. Is that your experience in the UK? Is this the same on mainland Europe?

I heard of a person fell off a ladder last year. As Paddy said above, this person has been constantly bombarded by quotations and "Can we help you claim from who was at fault?" in their text box on their phone and "Was there a blame?" in their inbox of their email account. Have their details been sold as part of a luxury package of data collection from a hospital or an insurance company? For those, who were worried this person has now recovered and has since been back up a ladder.

Would you join a campaign to make insurance for whiplash an extra cost and so car insurance costs can be seriously reduced? An article in the Daily Telegraph from June of 2011 described the situation that motor insurance companies are selling people's details to "no win, no fee" claims companies.

"The Labour MP for Blackburn," Jack Straw, "said the cost of personal injury claims has doubled to £14 billion in 10 years."


What other grievances have farmers, be they from the South of England or from the continent, had? I certainly know that if I am sitting down to a bit of cheese and an apple, what is the French equivalent of a ploughman's lunch(?), I know that if the phone rings at midday, it will be a very kind man from India asking me if I am happy with my computer, electricity, gas, sewerage (delete where applicable) services. I do try to be very polite if they ring at another time, but I find that they get very upset if I ask them if they can see tigers. They reply that they state they are unable to say where there are calling from due to company policy - ironically, leopards are now patrolling the streets of Mumbai due to a conflict of the shanty towns and the local nature reserve (named Sanjay Gandi).

I would be glad to hear of your problems (within reason) that stem from your agricultural employment, have a good week.

Overseas Pavilion South of England Show

Overseas Visitors to the South of England Show in June are in for a treat. We have a specially designated Pavilion in a prime ringside position where they receive a warm welcome, advice if required on different areas of the Show, a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea and the facility to leave belongings in safe keeping while wandering around the Show. The Pavilion is manned on a voluntary basis by farmers, and their friends, who have have taken part in the exchanges and study visits in Europe and other parts of the world, which have been generously sponsored over many years by the South of England Agricultural Society in Ardingly, West Sussex.

Visitors can meet up with old friends, make new acquaintances and on occasions meet distinguished visitors to the Show, which in the past have included the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip; the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles and Ambassadors to the Court of St. James. In addition, they are entertained by displays of the highest standard in the Main Ring, competitions to judge the very best in British Agriculture, horses, show jumpers, ponies and perhaps most well-known of all: a fabulous display of cattle representing the best in country.

If visitors have a few moments to spare, they may enjoy looking at the many displays adorning the Pavilion walls. Amongst others, they can view photographs of people and agriculture enterprises taken during the annual visits to mainland Europe organised by the Eurolink Agricultural Club, some of the them catching people unawares in unguarded moments, which I leave to your imagination. Most of the stewards in the Pavilion have been active members of Eurolink and are happy to converse with you.

The Pavilion is generously sponsored and these supporters are also in the Pavilion. You will be pleasantly surprised when you see who they are.

Put the dates of next year's South of England Show in your diary: June the 7th, 8th and 9th 2012. We look forward to welcoming you.

A new chapter

To those who read this, I have just come from a meeting at the South of England Agricultural Society Showground with the committee of Eurolink. This online log or blog is to continue, it is to continue in shorter posts, but that will probably mean more postings that I hope will be more relevant to the agricultural worker, farmer or rural professional within us all.

So a couple of short postings, on the Saturday the 1st of October and Sunday the 2nd of October of 2011 from 9.00am to 5.00pm, the South of England Agricultural Society Showground presents The South of England Autumn Show and Game Fair. A chance to  have a go at Clay Pigeon Shooting including High Gun and a Ladies High Gun, Fly Casting, Terrier Racing and Sunday has its own Team Shoot Challenge. There will be activities in the arena including birds of prey, bloodhounds and local packs of hounds. More details can be found here. Are there any other agricultural or rural activities that you think should be mentioned here, they cannot be advertised here, but their presence can be brought to the attention of the reading audience.

The other short post is about agricultural regulations - NetRegs (www.netregs.gov.uk) is a government sponsored site that helps all industries to easily find the regulations that control their industry. The pages for agriculture can be found here and there are clickable links to the left of the screen that give all agricultural guidance,  EP (Environmental Permit) / PPC (Pollution Prevention and Control permit) guidance, Quick Start Checklist for Farmers (split easily into four countries) and an electronic learning tool that helps you to learn how to deal with farm waste. You can even sign up for a free monthly update from the Net Regs team, sign up here. So why am I mentioning this now, just to let you know that NetRegs is going to be absorbed into the Business Link website, information can be found here.

If you are reading this from another country, does your government have a similar service? Is it easy to find on the Internet?

The arrival of Autumn - L'arrivée de l'automne

With this blog making its way into September, some people will think of getting logs in for the fire, which reminds me of an anonymous poem that can be found here.

The Firewood Rhyme - Anon

Logs to Burn, Logs to burn, Logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.

Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
The proper kind of logs to burn.

Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
Larch logs of pine will smell,
But the sparks will fly.

Beech logs for Christmas time,
Yew logs heat well.
"Scotch" logs it is a crime,
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut scarce at all.
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall.

Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
No flame to be seen.

Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room,
Cherry logs across the dogs,
Smell like flowers in bloom

But ash logs, all smooth and grey,
Burn them green or old;
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.

And not forgetting a version in French, using Google Translate (so do tell me if I have got some of it wrong).

Poème de bois - Anonyme

Bûches à brûler, bûches à brûler, bûches à brûler,
Journaux pour saver le charbon un tour,
Voici un mot à te rendre sage,
Quand vous entendez les cris du bûcheron.

Ne jamais écouter le conte d'habitude son,
Qu'il a produit pour la vente des journaux,
Mais lisez ces lignes et vraiment apprendre,
Bon type de bois à brûler.

Grumes de chêne vous réchauffera bien,
Si elles sont vielles et sèches,
Bûches de mélèze de pin sentira,
Mais les éntincelles voleront.

Grumes de hêtre pour la période de Noël,
Ifs journaux bien la chaleur,
Scotch journaux, c'est un crime,
Pour quiconque de vendre.
Grumes de bouleau brûle trop vite,
Rares châtaigniers à tout,
Journaux aubépine sont bons pour durer,
Si vous les couper à l'automne.

Houx bûches brûlent comme de la cire,
Vous devriez brûler verte,
Elm journaux comme le lin qui couve
Aucune flamme à voir.

La poire and la pomme journaux,
Ils vont parfumer votre chambre,
Journaux cerise sur la chien,
Sent comme des fleurs en fleurs.

Mais les journaux en cendres, tout lisse et grisse,
Les brûler verte or vieux,
Achêter tout ce qui viennent à votre rencontre,
Ils valent leur pesant d'or.