Guernsey

WORLD FARMING GUERNSEY

Looking to the future with new beginnings

By Fiona Sloan

Like Jersey, its sister island, which we looked at last month, Guernsey is part of the Channel Islands and is a British sovereign island about 20 miles off the Normandy coast of France.

Its proximity to France has ensured that the island’s history is steeped in Norman tradition, which can still be seen today and a small number of the 65,000 residents still speak a version of Norman French known as Guernésiais, or Guernsey French, as their first language.

It is a triangular shaped Island, rising to around 300 feet in the south at its jagged coastal cliffs and has a typically mild island climate with little or no frost and a low rainfall of around 30-35 inches a year. Water is supplemented by the distillation of sea water, for irrigation of the 245 hectares of potatoes, vegetables and flowers, mostly grown under glass, at sea level, in the north of the island. Like Jersey, the land is measured in vergees (6.1 vergees to the hectare) and there are 2500 hectares of agricultural land with around 1600 used for the dairy industry and the rest for horses and other small enterprises.

In Guernsey only 20% of the farmland is owned by the people who farm it. Some 80% is rented from many different owners on an ‘annual’ tenancy, so farmers have little security and may gain or lose up to 10% of their land each year. Dairy farming is the main industry in Guernsey, together with tourism. There are about 1600 cows across 20 dairy farms, with the Guernsey breed having an average lactation of 6000 litres. The production from the island dairy herd has reduced significantly since the 1950s and is now only used for liquid milk and dairy produce of cheese and cream for local consumption. Perhaps the best way to see the whole dairy system in action, but in miniature, is to take a ferry to the next-door island of Sark. A trust was set up to look at the possibility of establishing a self-contained dairy farm on Sark and offered the opportunity out to tender to any interested farmer. Following the application and interview process, Jason Salisbury and his young family from Suffolk, were chosen to take on the project as they thought the future

of the herd, would be to adapt traditional methods with forward thinking. The new dairy unit has now been set up with the sole intention of making the island’s 500 residents – a number which doubles during the summer tourist season – self-sufficient in milk and dairy produce. The initial 10-strong herd with four followers just recently got up and running and the first calf was born on the Island this summer. The enthusiasm of Jason and his family, will undoubtedly ensure the success of this unique enterprise.

Visitors to modern-day Sark would hardly notice the impact of the changes taking place. With no airstrip, no cars and no tarmac roads, life on Sark remains visibly unaffected by modern life and transport is restricted to ‘Sharks’s pony’, tractor (if you can justify one), bicycle or horse-drawn cart, which is a great way to see the whole of this tiny island, where the pace of life appears very congenial and relaxed.

Another indigenous breed to Guernsey, is the Golden Guernsey goat, the origins of which are largely unknown, but having been seen them as feral animals in the 1920s, Miss Miriam Milbourne, started domesticating the goats in 1937 and in the early 1950s began a breeding programme for them. The result of some selective breeding in this small breed of milk goat, saved it from extinction and they are now lovingly promoted on the island together with their delicious cheese, best served with a nice French wine, or some of the

Golden Guernsey goat

amazing Guernsey Roquette cider.

Having visited the Channel Islands for the first time this year, it is clear that these islanders are doing a great job of producing quality food, while enduring the huge island costs which come with the territory. While there may be many millionaires on Jersey, I doubt many of them are farmers.

Agmatix Launches New Agricultural Data Technology Platform to Support Sustainable Food Production

Agmatix, a start-up agtech business owned by leading global speciality minerals company, ICL, has today launched a breakthrough data technology platform. As the world’s first single engine that drives the agronomic innovation cycle from research and experimental data into meaningful real-life actions, the Agmatix technology creates a new data language that can read and interpret thousands of the different data points commonly used across the agricultural industry. The unique system then provides agronomists, researchers and farmers with the vital information needed to make better crop management decisions to increase yields and crop quality.

By digitizing field trials and agronomic experimentation, as well as standardizing data across the industry, the new Agmatix solution is also building a global database poised to unlock the mainstream use of big data in agronomy - shortening timelines, reducing waste and increasing profitability for agricultural professionals and farmers.

The new technology achieves this by utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide comprehensive advice as to soil, land topography, irrigation, weather and crop management. Importantly, the Agmatix platform enables the development of statistically and scientifically stronger agricultural models, which helps to reduce food waste and support the issues of world food poverty and a growing global population.

Ron Baruchi, CEO, Agmatix comments, “Growers, agronomists, researchers and ag industry experts are tackling today’s biggest challenge - providing food security for the world’s growing population. While searching for a solution, each of them is creating and collecting vast amounts of data and expertise. But In order to face this epic challenge, they will need to be able to share the data and knowledge between them. Our technology provides a solution that unites, standardizes and leverages agricultural data, allowing it to effectively manage agronomic research trials and translate them into real life practices in a onestop-shop”

Agmatix’s technology platform has now completed over 50,000 field trials, processing 17 million agronomic measurements and successfully analysing over 70 plus different crop types on a global scale. The company has partnered with leading global research institutes, universities, NGOs and leading agricultural companies who are now using Agmatix to build the largest and highest quality database of standardized data in the world. This will equip such institutions with the tools to develop machine-based models that can predict the environment’s impact on plant nutrition, enabling short and long-term planning.

Ron Baruchi concludes, “We must leverage big data to solve these global problems and find ways to collaborate across the agri-food industry. It begins with high-grade standardized agronomic data to enable change on a large scale.”