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US League of Tea Growers
- 1. FOUNDING MEETING – June 8th 2013
- 2. WHO WE ARE Jason McDonald – soon to be tea farmer 60,000 plants in nursery 12 acres cleared and ready Nigel Melican – tea technology consultant with 33 years tea production experience across 26 countries
- 3. WHERE IT’S AT - TEA GROWING 2013 HI
- 4. HAWAII
- 5. ALABAMA
- 7. LOUISIANA
- 9. WHY THE SUDDEN INCREASE? • Burgeoning US tea market • Trend to Specialty tea • Opportunities for novel origins • High sales value supports higher production costs • Distrust of some traditional origins • Trend to localism – food miles concern
- 10. US TEA SALES ARE RISING RAPIDLY. $1.8 billion $4.3 billion $7.8 billion $15.0 billion 1990 2000 2010 2014 Actual and projected sales, all tea SOURCES: Simrany, Joseph P. (2011). Tea Trends. New York, NY: The Tea Association of the U.S.A, Inc.; “Starbucks is Done with ‘Coffee’. The Economist, Nov. 24, 2013.
- 11. A HISTORY OF US TEA GROWING 1795 - Andre Michaux grows Chinese seed in SC 1848 – Julius Smith experiments with growing tea in Greenville SC 1858 – US Gov commissions Robert Fortune to collect and import seed 1880 – US Gov recruits John Jackson to plant 200 acres in SC 1890 – Charles Shepard – Pinehurst Tea Garden, Summerville SC – 125 acres 1901 – American Tea Growing Co plant 600,000 tea bushes 1915 – Pinehurst abandoned 1960 – TJ Lipton acquire the Pinehurst collection 1965 – Lipton Tea Research Station established on Wadmalaw Island SC 1984 – Lipton enters J/V with Alexander & Baldwin to grow tea in Hawaii 1985 – Lipton closes LTRS and sell to Bill Hall and Mack Fleming – who create American Classic Tea 1988 – Lipton abandons tea growing in Hawaii 2003 – Bigelow acquires the Wadmalaw Island tea farm In the main a sad history of failed attempts. . .
- 12. HOW IS US TEA GROWING DIFFERENT? Antithesis of traditional small farmer tea growing: • Low labour • Vertical integration • Small volume by choice • Requires a high level of investment • Suited to high tech – automation and mechanized • Can produce high value products • Products can be matched to markets • Diversification is welcomed I suspect these new methods will eventually guide traditional tea growing
- 13. `````WHAT WILL ENSURE SUCCESS? WORKING TOGETHER TO: • Build up plant husbandry knowledge • Develop best practice processing knowhow • Develop appropriate automation • Product and process innovation • Trials related to US conditions • Access to cultivars specific to US requirements • Generic promotion of US grown teas • Collaboration and information sharing • Access to information resources • Development and promotion of agri-tourism
- 14. COMPETITION IS BUILDING • The time frame is limited for US growers to cooperate and create a viable specialty tea market presence • Sri Lanka, China and Kenya have each declared specialty tea market aspirations • UK, New Zealand and Australia are already developing high value tea production and marketing
- 15. WHY US LEAGUE OF TEA GROWERS? • To connect far flung tea growers for mutual benefit • To form a platform for developing US specific tea knowhow, equipment, technology and cultivars on behalf of members • To act as a catalyst for collaboration between US tea growers • To foster agri-tourism both as an educational tool for increasing awareness of US grown tea and as an effective selling medium • To promote demand for US tea grown
- 16. USLTG – WHAT NEXT? • Agree the need for an organization • Form an interim committee • Work up a constitution for discussion • Meet again to launch the organization • Create web site • Recruit members • Commence supporting US tea growing
- 17. Thank you all for being here – and for making history today
- 18. KEY ROLES FOR USLTG 1. To actively encourage the growing and production of high value specialty teas within the USA 2. To bring together US tea growers on a basis of cooperative collaboration 3. To be the visible focus of tea growing in the USA. 4. To promote and encourage knowledge about specialty tea and to protect the name ‘tea’ as a Camellia sinensis derived beverage wherever possible. 5. Act as an accessible repository and archive for information (technical, scientific, practical and commercial) relevant to US tea growing. 6. Encourage sharing of information, equipment and ideas between members 7. Act as a forum for US tea growers and formally represent their views on the US Tea Council and the International Tea Committee 8. To interact internationally with tea growers and producers in other countries to the mutual benefit of all 9. Encourage new entrants into tea growing in the USA via education, provision of training, and dissemination of information 10. Provision of practical assistance to new growers via workshops, access to cuttings, and pooling of machinery
- 19. 11. Stimulate machinery and systems development by academia or commercial companies to facilitate high technology tea agronomy and harvesting. 12. To produce best-method handbooks of proven practical advice on growing, harvesting and processing of tea in the USA 13. Collect and maintain a gene pool representing all beverage Camellia material available in the USA 14. Adding to the US held gene pool by accessing genetic material from other tea producer countries 15. Exchange genetic material with other gene pools 16. Seek to understand the relationship between the Camellia sinensis genome and commercial requirements 17. Test and evaluate the genetic material held to select varieties or cultivars most suitable for US growing conditions – to include season extension, pest and disease tolerance, drought tolerance, mechanical handling suitability, processability, cup quality and health benefits. 18. Encourage academia and commercial outlets to take up and refine initial plant selections. 19. To have a membership structure that incorporates a core membership of active and potential tea growers, and an affiliated membership of tea educators, tea market facilitators, tea scientists, tea authors and tea bloggers.