Growing new crops with Agro-forestry
The co-operative’s four-hectare expanse of experimental plots in St. Camille will not be officially inaugurated until next year, but Cultur’innov has been providing a variety of services to those involved in growing new types of berries, nuts, medicinal plants, non-timber forest products and agro-forestry since 2009.
“I’ve been with Cultur’innov since 2012,” says Laurie Brown, one of two agronomists who work for the small enterprise that also has a team of five technicians as well as a co-ordinator/biologist.
“I was intrigued by the crops,” says the Mcgill-trained agronomist by way of explaining why she joined the fledgling company. “I spent 26 years with a commercial greenhouse, and I always enjoyed trying new plants.”
Working with Cultur’innov has permitted Laurie to get out of the office. “I give lectures and workshops,” she says, “and those can be all over the province. I also meet with clients, and that has brought me as far north as Mont Laurier. Last summer I went to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a conference on haskap berries, so my job does entail some travel.”
“May and June tend to be especially busy, and so too does September,” she continues. “The winter is quieter, and I usually spend it giving courses and writing up reports.”
Cultur’innov’s clients are people who are growing one or more of the new crops that the co-op covers. Sometimes these are young retirees who have moved to the country, at other times they’re established farmers who want to make different use of a piece of land. “It’s easier for us when a client calls earlier rather than later,” Laurie notes. “There can be a lot of detective work to find the source of a problem that appears several years into a project.”
In addition to orchards planted in rows, there are many reasons beyond aesthetics to plant trees and shrubs outside the traditional orchard setting. This approach is called agro-forestry. Trees are effective windbreaks that protect plants and can improve yields, and this for commercial enterprises as well as backyard gardens. They are at least as useful when planted as a riparian strip, along a stream or a pond to absorb and filter rainfall and runoff.
“Elderberry is a very good plant to have along a bank or shore,” the agronomist points out. “Elderberry will contribute to water quality and will attract birds and other wildlife. The fruit is edible, and used to be popular as a pie filling and to make wine.”
According to folklore, elderberry wine can serve to alleviate the pains of rheumatism.
“Forest gardening is another agroforestry method that has become popular in the last several years,” the agronomist says. “The idea is to mimic a natural forest but to replace non-edible plants with edible ones. Once established, it’s one way to grow some food with less effort. You may not be able to grow tomatoes in the woods, but there are many different crops that can do well. The challenge often is creating a space with sufficient sunlight.”
Fiddleheads and black currants are two examples of edible plants that can thrive in a forest environment. As well, there are a number of medicinal plants that can do very well on the forest floor: ginseng, goldenseal, and snakeroot, among others.
“We are also working with several new berry crops that have the potential to be commercially viable,” Laurie Brown explains. “Sea buckthorn is one example of a relatively new crop that is being planted by more and more people.” The shrub produces soft, juicy, orange-coloured berries that are usually turned into juice or jelly. Sea buckthorn is very rich in anti-oxidants and in Omega 7
“Another very interesting new plant,” she continues, “is haskap. This is a shrub that is similar in height to the blueberry, and has a similar fruit as well, the same colour as the blueberry, but with an oblong shape. The fruit matures in early July and the berries are like flavour bombs in your mouth. They should start turning up in markets and stores in the next year or two because there are a number of new plantations in the area.”
As well as lesser-known plants, the experimental plots in St. Camille are also being used for more traditional plants. One example is gooseberries, only rarely seen in backyard gardens and similarly rare on supermarket shelves.
“Gooseberries were far more popular a few generations ago,” Laurie points out. “Especially when they’re still immature, gooseberries have a high concentration of pectin. Housewives used to add a few gooseberries to other fruit when making jam to help it gel. Today, you buy pectin at the store.”
As well as working with fruit bearing shrubs, Laurie Brown also works with nut-bearing trees.
“At one time,” she says, “it was quite common to pick wild hazelnuts in the fall. A weevil inadvertently imported from Europe largely put an end to the practice because the nuts would almost all be found to have a small hole bored through the shell and the nut spoiled.”
Oaks are quite common throughout southern Quebec but anyone who has cracked open an acorn and eaten the nut is unlikely to do so again. “The nut very fibrous,” explains Laurie, “and very high in tannins. However, the tannins can be leached out, and I have tasted a coffee substitute made of ground up acorns.”
“If you do want to try acorns,” she warns, “harvest acorns from oaks that have rounded leaves rather than pointed leaves. Acorns were part of the diet of indigenous people who practiced agroforestry by burning the vegetation around oak trees to fertilize the soil. Acorns required little work, other than shelling, they were easy to store, and they were nutritious.”
The butternut is another relatively common tree that produces an edible fruit. “It’s unlikely that butternuts will ever be exploited commercially,” says Laurie, “because the nut is difficult to extract from the shell. However a hybrid butternut, known as the buartnut, is now being planted. It’s a cross between the heartnut, a type of Japanese walnut, and the butternut.”
“Someone thinking of planting a relatively un-known crop has to be aware that there are two very different components to any enterprise,” Laurie advises. “One has to do with the knowledge needed to undertake any kind of farming, and the other has to do with marketing and selling.”
“I sense a lot of interest in agroforestry, especially among young people,” she continues, “but it’s difficult for them to have access to land. Those that do manage to buy or rent land almost always end up doing market gardening because the payback period is shorter.”
“There’s a very large human component to any project involving agroforestry,” she says. “We all have our individual strengths. We all have constraints with respect to time and money. Sometimes I see my job as trying to find the right project for the right person.”
With the new experimental orchard, Cultur’innov is filling a niche that is growing as Agriculture and Agri-food Canada has been closing many of its own experimental orchards. “We work with organic growers,” she says, “and that’s something I find particularly interesting, but we also have clients who are farming more conventionally. We charge an hourly rate and we act primarily as consultants. Government subsidies are available to cover our fees, and these are offered to recognized farmers, and can go as high as 85%.”