March 2019 – Penguins and Potatoes

I have published below copies of my local newsletter, the Farming News, which I have been putting out to the islanders of Tristan to keep them informed on what has been happening in agriculture on the island. All islanders are heavily involved in agriculture – every household owns its own cattle and sheep, and every household grows potatoes in one or more Potato Patches, down on the western plain.

It has been vital that I have done my best to involve the islanders in the work that I have been doing. For any progress to be made, and to be lasting, it is of course key that the islanders themselves are involved, and advocacy has been a major part of my work. It is quite deliberate that I have referred to my final report, which will be able to give every islander a comprehensive picture of the steps that can be taken towards a more productive farming system.

Meanwhile, we are due to leave Tristan da Cunha in about two weeks time. There are several more articles that I aim to publish in the coming months, when I am off-island.

TDC Farming News Issue 4 March 2019

This is the fourth, and of course the final, ‘Farming News’ that I have put out in my time on Tristan. As soon as the Edinburgh arrives back from Cape Town, Bee and I will be boarding, and leaving behind our Tristan friends and the farming challenges on the island.

I would like to use this page to summarise some of the steps that we have been able to take in the last 2 ¼ years, to outline the farming future which is now much more clear, and to make some suggestions to increase productivity.

Firstly, the cattle. The decision to reduce the quota to one per household has been talked about for the last 40 years. I have no doubt at all that it was the right decision, and that it will result in better pastures and greater production of meat. It is only now, at the end of March, that we are coming up to the slaughter deadline for the new quota, and it will take at least three years before the reduced stock numbers are seen throughout the cattle population, including the youngstock. Provided that the situation is handled properly, the increased growth rates will result in one of two possibilities – either owners will decide to slaughter their steers younger than has been the case up to now, or legislation will catch up with the quicker maturity of the cattle to reduce the compulsory slaughter age. Either way, this will have the same result of having even fewer animals grazing at any one time. In turn, this will enable the Department to have better control over the pastures, and it should be that in four or five years time the island will be able to start cutting surplus grass for hay, resulting in a stock of hay for winter feed which in turn, of course, will result in even better growth rates. In my view this all heralds the most exciting period for the proper management of cattle on Tristan since the early days of man on the island.

Contented cattle grazing and lazing on American Fence, February 2019

Whereas steps towards the progress in productivity in the cattle are now in hand, the improvement in the sheep has not yet started, but it is now planned. It has now been finally decided to introduce new genetics to the sheep on the island by the use of AI, using semen of Cheviot rams from the UK. Sheep AI is quite different from cattle AI – in some regards it is more simple, and in other ways it is more complicated. The first sheep AI programme should be happening in a year’s time, and islanders should be able to repeat the programme every three or four years, aimed at continuous improvement and increased productivity. The Cheviot breed was chosen because it is hardy (thus suitable for the harsh Tristan conditions), it has a good carcass quality, and it has excellent wool quality.

Livestock are of course dependent on grass production. Almost all the soil on the island is extremely acid, with pH levels between 4.5 and 4.8. To start the process of pH correction, in the last two years 70 tonnes of lime has been spread on the pastures. Improvement in grass production is visible already. This is just the start of a large long-term programme. In round figures, 7 tonnes per hectare is needed on the 350 hectares of pasture, a total of 2,450 tonnes of lime.

Spreading lime near Jenny’s Watron, using the new high capacity machinery. It would be possible to spread 20 tonnes per day with this machinery.

Lime is not, of course, the only requirement for increased grass production. We also need to see a concerted programme of surface harrowing, and the regular application of fertiliser, particularly Nitrogen. Urea contains double the percentage of nitrogen of any other fertiliser available, thus it costs half the amount to ship compared with other fertilisers (per unit of nitrogen) and it is easier to handle and spread.

It has been an interesting two years as far as the Greenhouses are concerned. In the middle of 2017 a consignment of all sorts of horticultural equipment and materials was received, and this enabled the greenhouses to at last start to become properly productive. We successfully grew salad crops throughout the winter months, we grew a range of culinary herbs, we grew a range of ornamental plants for sale in the agri shop, and we germinated a large quantity of vegetable plants for islanders to grow-on. We have established the principle of achieving production in the greenhouses, but in the future it will be necessary to work hard to keep the momentum going to achieve maximum production all through the year.

A full, busy and productive greenhouse in the winter of 2017

In the last two years there have been two incidents in which the entire consignment of imported fruit and vegetables coming to the island shop had to be dumped. This highlights the necessity, for strategic reasons, of the island becoming as self-sufficient as possible. My Final Report illustrates a range of steps that can be taken to improve agricultural production on Tristan. This includes a proposal for the recycling of ground crayfish shells from the factory, which would undoubtedly help crop and grass production.

Bee and I would like to thank you, the people of Tristan, for your exceptional hospitality and kindness to us during our time on the island. Best of luck for the future.

Alasdair Wyllie – Agriculture Adviser and Editor of TDC Farming News

The word Agulhas means different things to different people. To a geographer, Cape Agulhas is the most southern tip of the continent of Africa. Many people would think that Cape Horn is furthest south, particularly with its fame among the trading sailors of the 19^th century who “Rounded the Horn” on their way to India and the Far East. Presumably, as these vessels navigated around the southern point of Africa the biggest change of direction was when they changed course around Cape Horn, whereas the change of course just 80 miles later, around Cape Agulhas, was a relatively modest change of angle, prior to the ships running almost due east along what is now the Garden Coast of South Africa.

Bee and Alasdair at Cape Agulhas – to the left is the Indian Ocean, and to the right is the Atlantic

Oceanographers will also know the name Agulhas after the Agulhas Current. This is a major south-flowing current which runs down the east coast of Africa, roughly from 27^oto 40^o south. It is a narrow strip of current close to the shore, varying between 30 and 100 km wide, and travelling at speeds averaging around 2 km/hr but at its maximum reaching speeds of 9.3 km/hr.

The Agulhas that is connected to Tristan da Cunha is SA Agulhas ll, which is a ship that is well known on a global basis. The Agulhas is a South African icebreaking polar supply and research ship that is used as a platform for a wide range of tasks in the southern polar regions. The Agulhas is owned by the Department for Environmental Affairs, and is operated by SANAP (South African National Antarctic Programme). The link with Tristan is that every year the Agulhas passes from Cape Town to Tristan da Cunha, then she goes down to Gough Island 220 miles south of Tristan, where she carries out the change of the staff that are based on Gough for a year, dropping off one annual team and picking up the retiring team after their handover. The Agulhas then returns to Tristan, and onwards to Cape Town.

On her way from Cape Town to Tristan the Agulhas takes a large quantity of cargo, and many passengers. Last September the passengers included the RSPB team travelling out to Gough to do work on the mouse eradication project, two new teachers coming to Tristan, a number of islanders returning to the island from medical visits in Cape Town, a number of scientists coming to work on fisheries, birds and seals, a retail specialist coming to help the Tristan supermarket for six months, a large number of visitors coming to celebrate the 100^th birthday of their relative on the island – and Bee and myself returning from leave!

The Agulhas has some big advantages for travelling out here compared with the deep sea fishing boats that are the other form of transport. Firstly, she carries two helicopters. One of the helicopters is used to take passengers ashore, which can be done even if sea conditions are stormy; thus there is virtually no risk of having to wait days on end while sea conditions allow the harbour on Tristan to be used. The next advantage is that the Agulhas is a large and powerful ship, and is able to stick to a schedule under almost any conditions. Visitors to the island are able to come ashore, and to have great confidence that they will be picked up 18 days later when the ship is on her return voyage. The third advantage over the fishing ships is to do with passenger comforts – the Agulhas has stabilisers, comfortable en-suite cabins, good food, and good facilities including a gym and a couple of bars!

The Agulhas was built in Finland, and was commissioned in 2012. She is built to “Polar Class 5” and is powered by four 3,000kw Waitsila engines. Her ice-breaking capability is impressive, with a capacity to drive through 1 metre of ice at 5 knots. An interesting feature is that her decks are heated, in order to prevent any build-up of ice in polar conditions. The ship’s stabilisers are interesting – being an ice-breaker she cannot have stabiliser vanes sticking out of the side of the vessel, instead she has water balancing tanks which are joined by massive pumps, capable of pumping water from one side to the other in order to achieve a balanced trim.

One of the main engines in the immaculate engine room

The on-board machinery workshop – capable of any task

The ship has a crew of 45, and accommodation for a further 100 passengers. With regard to her function as a scientific platform, the ship has 8 fitted laboratories and 6 further container laboratories, a library, as well as an auditorium for 100 people.

Our crossing from Cape Town to Tristan was trouble-free, and we made it interesting since I managed to organise visits to the engine room and to the bridge. On the bridge we found the famous xylophone that is used as a dinner gong – it is a tradition on board that a crew member on the bridge announces meal times by playing a tune over the public address system!

The improvised dinner gong in the bridge

The Agulhas regularly carries out expeditions in the southern polar regions. One quite recent expedition, in February this year, was to go down into the Weddell Sea and carry out scientific studies, particularly on the giant iceberg known as A68, leading to greatly increased knowledge of the climatic influences from that area. One last mission, before the Agulhas left the Weddell Sea, was to launch an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) in order to search for the Endurance, Sir Earnest Shackleton’s famous ship which sank in November 1915. The mission was not a success – they were on station and began their search on 11 February, but on 14 February, with deteriorating weather and sea ice conditions, the AUV lost contact with her mother ship and the mission had to be called off and the AUV abandoned.