The Farmers Mart Summer 2017 - Issue 51 | Page 8

Market Place Farm Willow, wine and weddings are the new Market Place Chris Berry talks with Henry Wilson in South Cave » » FINDING NEW WAYS OF providing income and changing the use of his 250 acres accordingly at South Cave and Broomfleet in the East Riding has kept Henry Wilson on his toes since he took over the running of Market Place Farm from his father Rob in the mid- 70s. Traditional farm sector involvement keeping pigs, cattle and growing cereal crops have given way over the years to a varied mix of willow, wine, weddings, educational days and crafts. Henry has never stood still for very long and he most certainly believes in doing something about his future regardless of whatever situation he finds himself. ‘Along with all other cereal producers I had a serious problem in the late 20th century when grain 63256 prices were falling - PaynesTurkeys - 8TH.pdf through the floor. At that time 1 we were growing cereals across the whole 250 acres on land that varies roughly equally between steep Wold sides on the Little Weighton/Beverley road out of South Cave and heavy clay land towards the River Humber at Broomfleet. ‘We had our own farm machinery and conducted all the jobs ourselves. The thought of the price having dropped by half frightened me considerably and I made the decision to kill two birds with one stone in coming out of cereals. I wanted rid of all the high overheads we had in machinery and wanted to get into a crop with minimal input. I put the hillsides into a stewardship scheme and put the rest of the farm at the Broomfleet end into biomass production with willow coppice. I was one of the first to grow for the Arbre 11:40:31 Energy scheme set up 16/06/2017 in the shadow of Eggborough DAY OLD & GROWING TURKEYS C M PROUD SUPPLIERS TO HENRY WILSON AND HIS FAMILY AT MARKET PLACE FARM C M Y Y CM CM MY PAYNE’S TURKEYS CY CMY K MY CY RIVERHEAD TURKEY FARM, HOLME ROAD, MARKET WEIGHTON, YORK, YO43 4LY www.paynesturkeys.co.uk | Tel: 01430 872227 8 Summer 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk CMY K power station to burn biomass. I ‘We bought a second-hand became a director and chairman sugar cane harvester from of the group that included Australia between us and three farmers such as Gareth Gaunt years later we were supplying and Russell Toothill. Drax power station. Three years When Arbre Energy went without income from willow was bankrupt, Henry and fellow a bit hairy but we’ve got going directors and producer since then and I’ve been quite colleagues created their own pleased we got into the crop. It co-operative company called never makes us an awful lot but Regrow. It was the only time we don’t lose money either. Our he has invested so heavily in supply now goes to a company farm machinery since switching called Igglesund, which is a from arable 62509 to willow, as Henry We supply - HornseysLandAgent - 8TH.pdf Norwegian 1 06/06/2017 company. 11:58:21 explains: their factory in Cumbria where HORNSEYS ESTABLISHED 1885 CHARTERED SURVEYORS, AUCTIONEERS, VALUERS & ESTATE AGESNTS Hornseys have been providing agricultural property advice since 1885. With our specialist knowledge we are able to provide advice on a range of agricultural property related matters including: • Sale, purchase & letting of agricultural property • Rural estate management • Valuations for secured lending, taxation purposes, matrimonial issues & re-structuring purposes • Landlord & tenant issues • Basic Payment Scheme • Environmental Schemes • Contract farming arrangements • Compulsory purchase & compensation • Planning & development • Dispersal sales of farm machinery • Diversification schemes • Renewable energy advice 33 High Street, Market Weighton, York, YO43 3AQ | Tel. 01430 872551 | www.hornseys.uk.com