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.
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