I am the chair of the Trade Committee of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and have been travelling around the UK looking at the work done growing willow, a staple need for Basketmakers.
Initially it was a quest to see where basketry supplies came from as both Brexit and the escalating costs of logistics are creating new opportunities for home grown products. But my attendance at the Basketmakers Association showed a much more holistic approach to a native plant that can grow pretty much anywhere. This is very interesting to the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers but also offers some scope for people considering investment in green industries.
The Association visited the willow beds at Rothampsted and were given a talk by William Macalpine the willow breeder at Rothamsted Research.
The willow collection is a hundred years old this year with 1500 accessions (different types of willow) . William took us through the history of the collection with old photos and reminded us that baskets for sale of groceries or fish, for example, were units of currency. Basketmakers had an important role in regulating size and capacity in the City of London.
The Rothamsted willow beds arose out of the Long Ashton Research Station which was closed down in 2002. From simply considering supply into the basketry trades, the focus now is also on perennial biomass crops for greenhouse gas removal. Rothamsted reports its research findings to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Carbon capture and storage needs to be paired with biomass crops in any effective move towards net zero.
Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willows are grown in a twin row design. There are five experimental willow plantations spread out over the UK where the aim is to accelerate willow breeding in conditions of drought, flooding and disease resistance. The aim will be to be able to advise on the best accessions for different regions. The fast growth and early maturity of willow offers insights into research into other tree species too. Bearing in mind the urgency of climate change, this is crucial.
The appeal to farmers is that willow is regarded as an armchair crop with sporadic visits from specialist contractors for planting and cropping. If the right accessions for terrain and climate are available, the margins aren’t large but they are consistent. The crop can be used for fuel and a mixture of aromatic chemicals (aspirin, too) as well as Basketmaking materials. Metabolomics is the area of biochemistry now pointing the way forward to a fossil fuel free economy. Now if our Government could just publish its Biomass strategy! More details of the National Willow Collection are on the Rothamsted website.