Is college's bere crop first step to
local bere whisky?
(From The Orcadian dated September 19, 2002)

Gillian Wylie reports on a busy first growing season for
Orkney College's Agronomy Institute

“Who would have thought we would be so busy?”

So said Dr John French director of Orkney’s fledgling Agronomy Institute, at one of the recent science festival events. And even the casual visitor would have to agree.

Since the institute was formally opened this spring, the first crop of bere to be grown at Orkney College for years, has ripened and has been reaped. It now stands in stooks in the field.

Other traditional crops, like black and murkle oats, await similar treatment. The exceptional summer weather has helped many plants, traditional and more exotic, get off to as good a start as possible. Lupins, linseed, willows, and a variety of berry bushes fill the field beside the college.

Now, as winter approaches, decisions have to be made on how to move forward, and with what plant species – as institute director, Dr John French and senior researcher Dr Peter Martin explained.

Traditional cereals

As already mentioned, the institute are conducting trials on traditionally grown cereals – namely bere barley, black oats and murkle oats.

Bere, as almost everyone in Orkney knows, has been grown in the county for hundreds – if not thousands – of years, and is customarily made into scones.

Stromness bakers, Argos, have in recent years widened the range of baked goods containing bere, and the institute are also looking into ways of extending the market for the high fibre, low gluten cereal within the food industry – particularly into the health food side of the market.

To that end, they are joining forces with Rank Hovis MacDougall, and their project to investigate and develop bere has been shortlisted for the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Challenge. They will also be working with the British Nutritional Foundation, looking into the nutritional value of bere.

Reaping the rewards of a season’s work, Robbie Spence and Arthur Cromarty harvest the Agronomy Institute’s first crop of bere, using Robbie’s binder. (Picture: Dr John French)

Distillation is another possibility being explored, with one or two farmers across the Highlands and Islands expressing an interest in on-farm distillation, and the real possibility that Orkney bere whisky might reach shop shelves some day.

“I think there’s potential for bere in a number of areas,” said Dr French.

In the meantime, with this year’s crop harvested, work begins in earnest to ensure, first and foremost, that the strain of bere they have is pure.

“What we grew this year will form the basis of that,” Dr French added.

They are also intend to conduct on-farm field trials next year, and will be advertising shortly for farmers willing to take part. Establishing bere on a number of farms in the county should help them formally identify which are the most suitable soil types (in terms of soil pH and nutrient levels) for growing bere – work which has gone undocumented to date.

Arnica

Arnica has proved to be one of the surprise successes of the year. Exotic to Orkney, Arnica is usually found in the mountainous parts of mainland Europe.

Used in homeopathic remedies, many people swear by its healing properties, particularly when it comes to treating bruises and swelling. Currently, most Arnica used medicinally is gathered by picking the flower heads of wild stocks of Arnica montana.

It was decided that two species would be trialed at Orkney College – A. montana, and A. chamissonis.Both have grown well, but they are particularly pleased with A. chamissonis, which has produced masses of flowers in its first year.

“We are delighted about the progress of the Arnica,” commented John French. “We had no idea how they would do here. We grew both from seed. In general, plants grown from seed, rather than bought plants, have been a success.”

He added: “It’s down to the good skills of John Wishart. He’s made a superb contribution to the institute.

“Now we’re looking at how we can work up Arnica as a plant. We need to look at harvesting the active ingredient in the flowers.”

Flower heads are hand picked at the institute at the moment, but there are also active compounds in the roots – something they plan to pursue further.

“If we can break through the husbandry – that is where Agronomy comes in – turning them into viable crops. We’re going to do a fair bit of extra work on that. Then, one year after that, we will be in a position to test them in a farm environment.”

Biomass

Rows of willows of varying shapes and sizes can be seen along the edge of the college field – as can plots of poplars. Each are being investigated to see if they can be successfully grown, coppiced, and used as fuel to warm local houses.

The subject was crying out for investigation, given that Orkney Housing Association are building houses in the Lynn Park area of Kirkwall, which will be fuelled using a biomass furnace. The system is said to be environmentally friendly – “carbon neutral” – meaning the burning and cultivation of the plant releases about the same amount of carbon as it absorbed during its growth. Wood waste will initially be used to fuel the biomass heating system for the Lynn Park Development, but, in the long-term, growing willow in Orkney could be a preferable, more sustainable option.

At Orkney College, Peter Martin is in charge of the Biomass project.

The verdict? So far so good, perhaps.

“The plants have grown well, said Peter. “What we have to do is cut them back this year, then leave them for two years before we will know their potential for Biomass.”

However, he explained that winter would provide a real test for some of the plants. Some of the taller (more “willowy”) varieties may prove vulnerable to wind damage.

“They’ve established well which is a good thing,” he added.

However, willows are not the only plants the institute will look at for the biomass project. Certain grasses, Dr Martin explained, may also be suitable.

In the meantime, the institute are hoping to attract local people to a Biomass workshop on October 17.

Berries

“We’re very surprised at how well the cranberries are doing,” commented Dr French.

In fact a number of berries have been trialed this year – with varying degrees of success. But there is no doubt that the cranberries have stolen the show.

Ripening red berries abound on the small low lying bushes, which are surrounded by a sheltering fence.

Cranberries, as many are aware, provide more than just an accompaniment to poultry dishes. Cranberry juice, which is growing in popularity, is known to relieve conditions affecting the urinary tract – particularly cystitis.

Having established that the plants can grow here (they used to be grown in the Moray Firth area), one of the next stages is to look at harvesting of the berries. In America, where large volumes of cranberries are farmed, enclosed plantations are flooded, so that the berries float to the surface and can be mechanically gathered.

One possible use for local berries is their inclusion as part of one of Orkney’s newest enterprises, Emile van Schayk’s wine making company.

Cranberry wine is among the many wines to be launched onto the market by Orkney Wine Company, but Mr van Schayk has, to date at least, been forced to buy in cranberries and other wine making berries, such as blaeberries, from south.

Dye crops and other projects.

Natural dyes are another area of research, ripe for development. The institute have put in a number of bids for funds to research dye crops in the Highlands and Islands.

“It’s very very exciting,” enthused Dr French. “Tweeds were dyed with heather and lichen dyes traditionally.”

Many of these old techniques have been lost, he added, but there is now growing interest in high quality dyes – if they can be made colourfast.

“There’s a lot of concern about the effects of using artificial dyes, and the heavy metals used as mordents,” he explained, adding that there was a great deal of interest in dye crops in the Western Isles.

Another project in the offing is a study of the botany of Unst, Shetland, to see if any plants growing there are of commercial value. A number of Alpine plants grow there at sea level, he added.

‘Industrial Materials from the Hill’ is yet another avenue currently being explored.

Dr French explained: “DEFRA have put out a call for research projects to look at industrial materials from hill areas. We are in a consortium putting in a proposal for research.”

The latter is a national initiative. However, Dr French is very clear that, no matter how wide the institute casts its nets, the focus of their activities remains local.

“We’re trying to keep things local,” he said. “We take that very seriously – to make sure it benefits people locally, across the Highlands and Islands.”

To help focus the direction of the research, the institute has established an advisory board which meets regularly during the year.

And they are not just trying to foist their own ideas on local people. They are aware of the wealth of knowledge in the community, and welcome local input.

“We’re keen to hear people’s ideas,” commented Dr French. “We don’t want to do this in a vacuum. If they have something they would like us to work on and develop, they can give us a ring.”