News from the East

Jamie Lockhart (ND 92/95) was elected as the new Norfolk county chairman for the NFU. After Shuttleworth he worked with James Paterson at Dilham and set up a successful joint venture farming company while working for Watlington Farms. After 16 years as farm manager at Honingham Thorpe Farms, in Jan 2021 he was also beginning a new role as managing director at Brandon-based farming company Frederick Hiam. According to our correspondent, who did some research on Google, Jamie was also a Nuffield scholar.

Norfolk farmer John Cross (HND 76/79), who has led the Bovine TB Eradication Advisory Group since 2012, has been appointed by ministers as the independent chairman of the Bovine Tuberculosis Partnership. This group is there to help find a consensus on advice to ministers as to how to tackle bovine TB.

The poor weather caused difficulties with the sugar beet harvest which led to British Sugar delaying the scheduled closure date of its plant at Cantley until the end of March. Thomas

Love (NDA 71/73) who farms on the Norfolk coast at Walcott was one of the farmers affected.

Prof. Mike Alder had a letter published which pointed out the dangers of losing good quality farmland to solar farms as local authorities seek to achieve ‘carbon neutral’ targets.

The annual Norfolk malting barley competition between Stalham and Holt Farmer’s Clubs was contested by Graham de Feyter of Edingthorpe, who won the Holt title and his son, Edward de Feyter (FC 80/81) of East Ruston who was Stalham’s barley champion. As similar samples were entered by father and son it was declared a tie for the first time in its 20 year history.

Jamie Lockhart (ND 92/95)joined the YANA charity team for a 6 mile leg of the Walking Norfolk Challenge. The farming mental health charity was raising awareness of its work, with teams walking the 375 mile equivalent to the distance between Norwich and Paris.

Colin Rayner (OND 76/79) is mentioned in several articles regarding the problem farmers are having with quad bikers and scramblers damaging crops. He suggests there be a legal requirement for all quad bikes to be registered and have a tracker fitted.

Nick Gowing (ND 88/91), Richard Hirst (HND 80/83) were part of a team of six who cycled the 940 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats. They aimed to raise £25,000 to be split between 5 charities –YANA, East Anglia Children’s Hospice, the Motor Neurone Disease association, Muscular Dystrophy UK and the Royal Marsden Cancer charity. They actually raised £43,000!

There was an article in the Farmers Weekly about Kit Papworth (HND 89/92) early drilling winter wheat variety Wolverine. This is resistant to BYDV so later drilling and autumn insecticides are not needed to control the aphid-spread virus.