The new EU regulation that seeds used in organic vegetable production must be produced organically did not come into force on January 1, 2004. As the deadline approached, the European Commission decided it was too early for such strict measures to be enforced and the derogation has remained in place. However, species where adequate numbers of varieties are available as organic seed are likely to appear on an annexe in 2006. Once a crop is placed on the annexe, there is no scope for organic growers to use non-organic seed.
To enable decisions to made on species to appear in the annexe, each EU member state is required to submit a report, by the end of March, listing derogations by species, broken down by variety and quantity.
According to Alasdair Smithson, of the UK’s Soil Association (SA), organic growers are already using up to 80 per cent organic seed. While for brassicas derogations are still relatively common, just a handful of derogations were issued for potatoes last year.
In effect, UK organic potato growers are using 100 per cent organic seed, with a few exceptions for heritage varieties and trials work, he added.
The Horticultural Seed Working Group (HSWG), one of four groups feeding into the Advisory Committee on Organic Standards, is particularly concerned that UK supermarket growers are getting squeezed on price, with multiples not recognising the extra cost of organic seed. However, while some countries have introduced their own annexe, Alasdair Smithson said the HSWG is not in favour of a UK annexe.
Driven by organic growers’ need for good quality organic seed of commercial varieties, Elsoms Seeds like many other UK seed companies started experimenting with organic seed production in the late 1990s.
“We are now in a position to offer organic seed for mainstream varieties, such as Hystar onions,” said Elsoms technical manager, Andrew Vincent. “In addition, we have varieties that have been developed solely for organic growers including two new Bejo carrot varieties - Starship and Miami.”
Late Nantes types with strong upright foliage, Starship has intermediate Alternaria resistance while Miami is a slender variety well suited for storage.
“At the end of the day the seeds’ yields are not as good as for conventional production,” Vincent said. “The seed has to be produced on organic land, ideally sited away from traditional production areas. Without conventional fertilizers and pesticides, different production techniques have had to be developed.
“While working to the same germination standards as conventionally produced seeds - but with no permitted chemical seed treatments - seed producers have to ensure the organic seed is of the highest quality.”
Indeed research into hybrid onion-seed production costs, carried out by the Dutch seed company Bejo, found that organic onion seed was 2.5 times more expensive to produce than an equivalent weight of non-chemically treated conventionally produced seed. While organic carrot, beetroot and white cabbage seed apparently costs approximately twice as much to produce.
Biennial varieties are particularly costly as the seed crop must be kept free from disease and maintained throughout the winter, which is generally highly labour intensive.
According to Bejo, the most important cost increasing factors in organic onion seed production include the need to use twice as much basic seed and twice as much land to grow the organic parent lines.
The land must, of course, have organic accreditation. In the second year of organic hybrid seed production, again more hectares are needed due to lower seed production.
In addition, processing costs are higher, while economies of scale also play a part as overall demand for organic seeds is considerably smaller.
It is cheaper to produce organic seed for open pollinated varieties, as compared to hybrids. However, on the downside, OP varieties offer less uniformity and lower output.
Growers can now check out organic seed variety availability via the Defra-funded website www.organicxseeds.co.uk. Managed by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and the SA, and updated by seed companies, the website employs a simple green and red light system to highlight availability.
With conventional chemical seed treatments not permitted in the production of organic seed, seed-borne diseases continue to be a cause for concern in some crops. However, a new EC-funded project Seed Treatments for Organic Vegetable Production (STOVE) is underway to optimise existing organically acceptable physical seed treatments - such as hot water, air and electron bombardment.
The project also sets out to identify potential new alternative biological treatments, including formulated commercialised microbial preparations such as Bacillus sp, resistance inducers including commercialised plant strengtheners, and plant extracts and natural compounds such as essential oils.
Research is being carried out in several European countries, and in the UK work on the project has moved from Horticultural Research International (HRI) to the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), at Ryton near Coventry.
In relation to carrot seed, STOVE researchers are focusing on Alternaria dauci, and A radicina as well as Xanthomonas hortorum pv. Carotae, while in brassicas the target pathogens are Alternaria sp, Phoma lingam and Xanthomonas campestris.
Pathogens associated with Lamb’s lettuce, parsley, bean and basil seeds are also under investigation.
It is still early days, for the project, which is due to be completed in February 2006, but researchers have already identified promising physical treatments for certain host/pathogen combinations. Seed maturity has also been found to affect seed sensitivity to hot water treatments.
Encouragingly, research has shown biological treatments can be as effective as conventional fungicide treatments for Alternaria in brassicas, while resistance inducing agents can reduce Colletotrichum infection in beans.
SOARING SALADS BOOST SALES
A growing demand for salad is paying dividends for CN Seeds. The independent company is rapidly becoming one of the UK's key seed suppliers, specialising in herbs and related crops.
It said it is continually developing its extensive range of herbs and baby leaf salad items to satisfy increasing demand, particularly from the pre-packed salads market.
The company has also recently launched a mail order service, Home Garden Seeds Ltd, due to growing interest from amateur gardeners and its Tuscan Salad mix is one of the best selling items from its retail range.
Other products include various types of basil, coriander, cress and rocket. The company offers 21 varieties of basil in a choice of flavours and appearance.
When it comes to the most popular products, the company said while the standard Sweet Genovese is still holding onto the top spot, the more exotic Thai Basil is gaining appeal as consumer palates become ever more adventurous.
Thai basil has smoother more pointed leaves, which are flushed with red.
A spokesman for the company said: “It has a very distinctive flavour close to aniseed or liquorice and is an essential ingredient in the increasingly renowned Thai green curry.”
Another popular offering is Chechnya coriander. This product originated in eastern Europe and was first trialled in 2003. It has proved very useful in UK cropping programmes, being a slow bolting variety, which is well suited to summer production.
Meanwhile, Greek Cress (Lepidium sativum) is a spicier version of the more traditional garden cress, with a peppery flavour. It can be grown as a quick maturing babyleaf salad crop, harvesting at two to three true-leaf stage, and used in garnish quantities.
Other products on offer include Dentellata (Eruca vesicaria) which is a quick growing salad with the cut-leaf shape of wild rocket.
It has an attractive colour, pleasant leaf texture and milder flavour than the wild type and is useful in early and late season cropping programmes when wild rocket is more difficult to produce.
Based near Ely in Cambridgeshire, CN was founded in 1990 by Chris Nye, a former chairman of the British Herb Trade Association.
Nye said the company’s success is due to attention to detail, made possible by its limited size. This allows it to meet specific requirements, such as seed-lot traceability, custom packing to match sowing programmes, seed treatments against a range of pest and diseases and a prompt delivery service.
However, the company is still growing and the most recent addition to the small staff at CN's Cambridge warehouse is business development manager Charles Seddon, who joins CN after 25 years in the seed industry, with Sakata.
CANARY ISLANDS TAKE FLIGHT FOR HIGGINS
A leading UK potato-seed supplier is celebrating after breaking into a new international market.
The Higgins Group, one of Europe’s leading players in the potato supply sector, has completed a series of trials of new varieties in the Canary Islands.
The company’s seed division supplies seed potatoes to numerous countries in mainland Europe, North Africa, the Middle and Far East, but this is the first time it has broken into the Canary Islands market.
David Higgins, group managing director, said: “Naturally, growers expect a good crop from our seed potatoes, so we needed to establish which of our new varieties best respond to the differing growing conditions and climates on the islands.
“The Higgins seed division worked closely with Masafruta SL, one of the largest traders in the Canary Islands, and samples were distributed among growers in Tenerife and Las Palmas.”
The seed potatoes were planted at three different altitudes - sea level, 1,000 feet and 3,000ft - exposing them to diverse weather and soil conditions.
Personnel from Masafruta took responsibility for checking them on a regular basis throughout the growing period, and staff from the Higgins Group went to supervise lifting and to assess the test results in mid-July last year.
Higgins said: “Both the Higgins Group and Masafruta are exceptionally pleased with the outcome of the trials.
“Of the 16 varieties planted, six produced larger potatoes and a yield higher than expected,” said Higgins. “We are planning another trial to begin in September and October for a winter crop, using the six most successful, and some as-yet-untested varieties.
“The results will be available after the January 2005 harvest,” he added.
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