Onions!

So this week will see week 4 of onion production (see spreadsheet).

This year we are growing 4 types of onions:
* Ramrod (spring onion/ scallion)
* Sturon (cooking onion)
* Paris silverskin (pickling onion)
* Generic white variety I gathered seed from last year (cooking onion)

Onion seed I collected from the one onion that bolted last year, shaped into an onion as this is the sort of thing I find amusing. It was dried in a paper bag in our airing cupboard and extremely inexpertly (and inefficiently) threshed whilst watching Harry Potter over Christmas, then stored in a wee paper bag in our seed box.

 Said seed was planted out 3 weeks ago, 6-7 seeds per module and covered with vermiculite. This is the chaps as of yesterday in our expensive carrier bag propagator on the south-facing windowsill in our flat.

A similar state of affairs for the Ramrod onions.













I am getting very confused with the different onion names as they are all (both) very masculine. Consequently I got the Ramrod and Sturon planting dates muddled and we may end up with more than we strictly need. I then figured this was not a problem for 2 reasons:

1. People love free plants, and we have lots of friends who grow their own veg. Too many onion plants = not a problem.

2. Excess food is probably not a problem for us anyway! Gluts = times for creativity (= not a problem)

I did some researching into how to use excess spring onions, and found this recipe which will be tried if such an event occurs. Kimchi has always fascinated me, and new and interesting food is always appreciated chez Roberts!

Fact File: The Supermarket Ombudsman

A number of agencies are currently embroiled in the formation of this agency, in proceedings that have so far taken over a decade. What's the big deal?

What is a supermarket ombudsman?

Ombudsman (noun): government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.

A supermarket ombudsman (SO) in the UK would enforce the new Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), protecting the rights of farmers and other grocery suppliers. In 2010 the GSCOP replaced the former Supermarket Code of Practice (SCOP).

Officially it will:

• act as an arbitrator between retailers and suppliers in relation to disputes arising under the GSCOP;
• receive complaints in relation to a breach of the GSCOP, and where appropriate to conduct investigations;
• publish guidance on specific provisions of the GSCOP when necessary;
• make recommendations to retailers on how to improve compliance with the GSCOP and to monitor progress on the implementation of such recommendations; and
• advise and report to the OFT on the operation of the GSCOP.

 From Competition Commission News release August 2009, available here

In short, it will enforce fair trading regulations on retailers, and allow producers to register complaints against these retailers without the risk of incurring retribution.

Who would it affect?

Food retailers with a turnover of more than £1 billion. This includes the ‘big four’: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s, but also The Co-operative (including Alldays and Somerfield), Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi.

Who is in favour of this?

Supermarkets that have signed up are (to date): Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and Aldi.

Other supporters include NGOs, academics and farming organisations: National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales, NFU Scotland, British Independent Fruit Growers Association, Association of Convenience Stores, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Association of Master Bakers, Rural Shops Alliance, Country Land and Business Association, British Brands Group, Friends of the Earth, Action Aid, Traidcraft, Banana Link, War on Want and Breaking the Armlock Alliance. 

Why do we need one?

In 2006 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) referred the supply of groceries by retailers in the UK to the Competition Commission (CC) for investigation (section 131 of the Enterprise Act 2002 states that it may do this if it has "reasonable grounds for suspecting that any feature, or combination of features, of a market in the United Kingdom for goods or services prevents, restricts or distorts competition in connection with the supply or acquisition of any goods or services"). 

In other words, the OFT thought all was not well in the groceries industry, and it needed to be looked into.

The CC's report found two main concerns:

1. "several grocery retailers have strong positions in a number of local markets". i.e. it is very hard for smaller, local retailers to get a foothold in the market, resulting in the consumer having a lessening in choice, product quality and value for money.
2. "the transfer of excessive risk and unexpected costs by grocery retailers to their suppliers". i.e. suppliers were expected to absorb costs for any variability in the market, reducing their ability to innovate and invest in future projects.

Other issues included:

• The large market share of Tesco (in 2008 they held almost 30% of the groceries market)
• The impact on the nation's health by the provision of cheap but poorly nutritional foodstuffs and alcohol
• Prospective purchasing of land by retailers to prevent its future use by other retailers
• Collusion between retailers
• The pressure placed on convenience stores by the presence of large out of town supermarkets

In all cases, the CC deemed that while these issues were of concern, they had no significant effect on cost or choice for the consumer.

What has been done so far?

The NFU website has an excellent timeline charting progress from 1999-2010. Other updates can be found at another of my favourite websites here.

Since the release of the CC's report in 2008 three supermarkets have signed up (as above). In January 2010 the government announced its intention for form a supermarket ombudsman.

~~~~~

Since then, if I can take off my 'hat of objectivity', the government has been faffing. In October 2011 the government chose to ignore recommendations from two panels of MPs after submitting to the disbelief of the NFU. Since then there has been little in the news.

Obviously it is not in the interest of supermarkets to undergo stricter regulations, in much the same way the banks do not wish to be further regulated; it would force them to stop making some dodgy transactions.  If I can be especially cynical, I do not think it would be in the interests of the government for this bill to go through, as I suspect there are some important connections that may be put under pressure.

I for one will be campaigning on this - I think it's only fair that farmers in this country are paid a fair price for their produce. More to follow, no doubt

Organic producer conference round up

So this week I had the immensely good fortune to attend the Organic Producer's Conference, organised by the chaps at the Organic Research Centre at Elm Farm, and held (this year) at Aston University (and in my case paid for by my university). I spent two happy days drinking tea, eating my body weight in complimentary mini pains-au-chocolat, attending sessions on legumes and arable farming systems and chatting to organic farmers - possibly the nicest, most down to earth bunch of people around.

My overarching feeling from the conference was a positive one. Granted, agriculture is facing a tough time economically, and the government is not really providing the support to farmers that they need - the common agricultural policy (CAP) is outdated and based on quantity over and above actual demand for food (and environmental impact), the average age of farmers in this country is 64, and land is so expensive many young farmers are having trouble getting started.

But! It seems to me that small-scale projects are doing really well. Their output is far higher than conventionally farmed land, not only in produce/acre but also economically and in terms of jobs - the average (600 acre) conventional farm will employ the same number of people (2.4) as a small-scale community supported agriculture (CSA) scheme (surely a good reason to pursue this path more).

I am just blown away by the innovation and research that goes on in organic farming. While most of the government's agricultural research money goes into either GM crops or seed breeding, and in my experience conventional conferences are all about new varieties and machinery, the organic sector is all about innovation - how to get better systems working with minimal changes to the inputs. How to succeed economically whilst still giving a sh!t about the impact you're having on your land.

Granted it made me wonder why I'm spending my time in a lab when I would in many ways prefer to be starting my own business, but it also made me realise the importance of scientific research in progress. You can't make good decisions without cold, hard facts.

Unusual things from seed #2

With regards onions, I did save the seed from the one that decided to flower last year, and will try growing it this year. I've realised that the reason you don't see onion seed so much is just that us gardeners are impatient, and if you want really big onions, you need to sow them in august for harvesting the following year. However, Jon and I love our pickled onions, and these can be grown from seed in a year.

This year I'm planning on copying an idea I saw on a (my hero) Geoff Hamilton  series called The Ornamental Kitchem Garden: you plant about 6-7 seeds in a module in Jan/Feb indoors, and come about April you plant out the whole module together in one place. In theory the onions will push each other out of the way, and you will get a clump of medium-sized onions which looks like a massive aloe vera in the bed.

I reckon that growing them in this way is good for a container gardeners like us, and would give them a competitive advantage in a flowerbed as they're less likely to get smothered!

Onion varieties we're growing this year: Sturon, Ramrod, Paris silverskin and some miscellaneous red/white onion sets...

Unusual things from seed #1

I've always thought that certain things always come from tubers or sets: onions, garlic, potatoes, rhubarb. If you search for potato seed on Google, it will bring up seed potatoes, and I have yet to discover any potato seed available. I have however seen weird tomato-looking things on my tatties that I've always pondered the function of, and I now understand what they are - seeds!

The reason for the lack of commercially available potato seed comes back to GCSE biology, and genets and ramets. Tubers (or runners e.g. in strawberries) are genets (i.e. genetically identical), and the flowers are ramets (from the Latin ramus: branch) (this doesn't make sense to me!), the idea being that survival is ensured by the genets, but might be improved by the ramets. Thus the good ramets will survive, and the rubbish ones will die off - survival of the fittest.  So if you use tubers, the crop you grow will be genetically identical to the 'stock' variety, and you're guaranteed a crop, which is what you want when you've paid money for something! Cross-pollination introduces variability, and the downside to this is that if you sow seed from something like a potato or garlic (and especially rhubarb from what I've heard!), you might end up with really disgusting produce. Equally it might be amazing: the basis of plant breeding.

So this year, if any of my garlic or potatoes go to seed, I will not chop off the offending flowering protusion as advised in my gardening books (producing seed is hungry work for the plant, so the produce will suffer) but let them flower and set seed. Then next year I can start my potato/ garlic breeding regime!

Battery cages banned!

Excellent news for the compassionate eater - the long-fought-for ban on battery cages came into effect on January 1st 2012. I remember joining the battery hen welfare trust back in 2005 when we were still campaigning for mainstream shops to convert to selling free range eggs; I think the Co-operative were (unsurprisingly) the first, and then Hellman's mayonnaise converted and the whole thing went mainstream. Thank you Hellman's!

It makes me happy to think that hens will now be kept in slightly better conditions. As with anything like this, there will be farmers who look after their animals brilliantly and don't require this sort of legislation, but there will be the few who do not - and their animals can have better lives now.

Of course it seems to be a mixed blessing - where will all the hens go? How can we be sure that dodgy eggs don't make their way into processed foods? But I think that the legislation will make a huge difference to chicken welfare - how could it not? McDonald's would not be proclaiming their free range eggs if people weren't aware of the issues. 

At first I (selfishly) thought that meant I wouldn't be able to re-home a battery hen, but then, sadly, I realised that there will still be plenty of hens to re-home, as they're disposed of when they're past their productive peak.


Read more about it here.

Working age people in the UK

A little while back I heard the statistic that there are more people retired in the UK than there are of school age, so there will be fewer people replenishing the tax pot for pensions than there will be taking from it.

I spent a spell working for the NHS crunching such numbers in order to support health care decisions, so am familiar with the data sources, and relish any opportunity to play with spreadsheets (as previously mentioned).

So off I toddled to nchod (now part of the information centre, who seem to employ the same impenetrable website structure as the ONS) to download some figures. I grouped them by working age, et voila - there are clearly more people in the UK under the age of 19 than there are over the age of 65.  Where do politicians get their figures from? Lies, damn lies and statistics.

I guess I can stop hoping for some sort of house surfit that will make houses affordable to the likes of me...

An illustrated guide to a PhD

A friend sent me this link today, and I have to say it is brilliant.

Thus far my PhD has mostly just made me aware of the limitations of my knowledge and understanding. Still I guess an upside of this is that a number of people have commented on this fact already, and this chap wrote a brilliant article on it that I always think of whenever I'm stumped.

Cruelty free cosmetics

Further to the New Year cut backs, I'm going to have to find cheaper cosmetics than I currently use (Lush, Body Shop etc.). While I am a particular fan of Lush stuff (have been since it was Cosmetics to Go) as all the ingredients are good enough to eat, I realise that most of the ingredients in Body Shop stuff are no different to what I might find in Superdrug.

Obviously I'd rather support a local/ethical company than head to the high street, but needs must. So what's the best I can do? Well, a very short search led me to discover that the wee bunny I see on lots of beauty and cleaning products means that they are cruelty free i.e. none of the ingredients, nor the product itself, or nuffin', has been near a bunny's eyeball - or any part of any animal in a testing laboratory. More info available here.

So while I will still need to make up my mind about which synthetic chemicals I wish to apply to my face, at least I will be easily able to choose ones that haven't made anything else suffer!

Organic Producer's Conference

I have confirmed today that I will be attending, and the programme is available from here.

I will also be taking a poster, to persuade people how important and fascinating rhizobia are. I just need to design it, and stop procrastinating by writing blog posts!

New Year's Resolutions

I think these have got a bad rap in these past few years, but I always make a few, and these are they:

1. Keep a closer track on our finances (I have a spreadsheet...)
2. Grow all our own salad, and as much fruit and other veg as possible
3. Get networking, and carve myself out a career

I'd like to think these are all pretty positive, and I've certainly made progress on all of them in advance. The last is why I'm making an organised effort to post regularly on here, in the hopes it will form into a website on which I can put information on various agricultural and eco-related topics I can tell people about! I'm off to the Organic Producer's Conference in two weeks' time and I need to get myself in a promotional mood (and out of the 'why would anyone care about my research' funk it's so easy to slide into as a PhD student).

Time to polish up on my trumpet-blowing skills!

A tight budget for the new year!

I've always been enthusiastic about gardening. When I was young my granny would let me 'help' in the garden, and my little fingers were gradually greened - though I suspect I wasn't especially helpful. Sadly, I've been rather transitory for the past ten years and my ability to grow things has suffered (though I have not been unknown to garden in the bathtub when I had no outdoor facilities!).

There are a number of things that make me want to grow my own veg:

1. I know how my vegetables have been grown.
2. Their carbon footprint is miniscule: back garden --> kitchen is about as good as it gets.
3. Home made veggies taste better. Fact.
4. Home grown veg works out cheaper when you get into the swing of it, and I'm less likely to throw it away as I know about all the hard work that went into it!
5. Gardening is good for my soul.

This year, number 4 is coming to the forefront. I did our yearly finances the other day and realised we've been spending on average about £45 a week on food (good food is important to us) and considering our teeny (student/charity sector) income this needs to come down - I think I budgeted £30 a week. I also brought the petrol budget down to £10 a week, so it's bikes ahoy for the foreseeable future, and I'm hoping this will get us both fitter too (if we don't expire from exhaustion!).

The last is also pretty important, and I'm hoping that the fresh air will do me good too. Healthy (and abundant) veg + outdoor exercise + killing myself cycling + greening my soul = happy Bee

:o)