Newburgh-based Hyrneside has embraced the concept of incorporating trees into their farming plan for the sole purpose of supporting the environment.
Roger Howison took on the family farm four years ago and the site is now a case study in agriforestry after planting hundreds of apple trees, alongside the farm’s traditional arable crops and livestock business requiring no additional investment in new equipment and without dealing with the challenges a traditional orchard would present.
The business has essentially replaced the 7% yield sacrificed from the barley crop with a completely new revenue stream for the farm, to great effect.
Mr Howison says the sense of responsibility he feels in looking to ensure that the practices he employs in farming are not detrimental to the environment.
However, he admits that taking this course of action has and remains a learning curve but, ‘it just feels right’.
Trees were front and centre in looking to help the environment and ultimately connected him to The Woodland Trust who were able to assist in the grant application process although, this wasn’t a matter of just planting a new piece of woodland.
Instead, it was more radical, and certainly not straightforward and required some inventiveness.
Combining fruit production along with the traditional barley crop means that the space in the air above the ground is also now being productive and by not opting for a typical orchard plan the business also does not have to contend with the challenges that humid climate creates.
The spacing of the trees in single file or alleycropping, supports the existing harvesting equipment allowing the air to circulate around the trees blowing off bugs that could damage the apple crop.
Having to plant the rows of trees north to south to maximise the sunlight across the fruit flew in the face of how these arable fields would be traditionally worked in reference to the contours of the ground.
However, the end result is a product Roger is proud of. In fact, so successful has the Aipple Cider proved, he realises that he needs more apples.
The choice to grow apples was an easy one for Roger because of the heritage of the area.
Newburgh has a long-standing history of apple production dating back 830 years beginning with French monks in 1191, through which it became known as an Orchard Town.
Having that history to tie back into is Roger’s inspiration and he points to old ordnance survey maps which clearly show rows of apple trees behind every house in the town.
The striking yet simple branding of the cider and even its name; Aipple being the Scots word for apple are homage to this humble horticultural history.