THREE Yorkshire farmers are in the running for honours in the first Northern Farmer Awards.

Simon Beever of Staxton, near Scarborough, Richard Morrell, of Driffield, and Paul Harrison, of Easingwold, are finalists in the awards to be held at the Great Yorkshire Showground next week.

The Northern Farmer is a monthly magazine published by Newsquest Yorkshire and the North-East – publishers of the Gazette & Herald.

Mr Morrell and Mr Harrison are shortlisted in the Beef Farmer of the Year category. Mr Beever is shortlisted in the Farm Manager and Arable Farmer of the Year categories.

The awards night, sponsored by Mole Valley Country Stores, will be held next Thursday, March 6, in the Pavilions, Harrogate, and compered by Pam Royle of ITV Tyne Tees.

The nominations for the three finalists are as follows:

Paul Harrison - Beef Farmer of the Year

Paul Harrison runs his multi-award winning Brafferton herd of South Devon cattle on rented land at Tollerton, Easingwold.

In 2013 when it was named the South Devon Herd Book Society’s Herd of the Year. The society also awarded him the Linda Rousenvell Trophy for breed promotion. He and wife Pam also won numerous show titles including breed and native champion at Newark and any other breed at Lincoln, Driffield and Ryedale.

The herd has run 45 pedigree breeding cows which are housed in November and eat silage, hay and straw until calving between January and turnout. Calves are weaned in sight of their mothers to reduce stress. Breeding bulls are selected at 12 months.

The herd is in the SAC Premium health Scheme and accredited for BVD, IBR, Leptospirosis, and Johnes. Young breeding animals make a premium and pedigree stock are sold at society sales. Those that don’t make the grade sell deadweight through ABP.


Richard Morrell – Beef Farmer of the Year

Richard Morrell of Towthorpe Manor Farm, Towthorpe, near Driffield, has a 243 hectare arable and chalk dale farm in the Yorkshire Wolds. It includes a large arable enterprise and 100 acres of grassland in two chalk dales which are part of a Higher Level Stewardship Scheme.

They contain an important range of wild flowers, and as part of their management, he introduced pedigree herds of Highland and Belted Galloway cattle to graze them. In winter the cattle are fed on bales removed from the nectar mix and flower enriched margins.

The two herds supply finished cattle to Fodder, the multi-award winning food store and cafe set up by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.

The farm also has modern livestock buildings with capacity for approximately 200 head of cattle and the farm also finishes Continental cattle which are sold through Selby market and Aberdeen Angus cattle which supply Blade Farming. Mr Morrell has a full electronic weigh system for which he wrote his own software.

Simon Beever – Farm Manager and Arable Farmer of the Year

Economy of scale and self sufficiency have been motivators in Simon Beever’s 6 1/2 years as manager of Willerby Wold Piggeries, at Staxton, near Scarborough.

The area farmed by the Bradley family has increased from about 2,000 acres to 3,200 acres of wheat, barley and oil seed rape to include 600 acres which are contract farmed.

Simon, who has an arable and livestock background from Lincolnshire, has a flexible staff of 12 who run the arable and livestock operation. Fertiliser inputs have been slashed by up to 30 an acre by making best use of slurry and manure to provide P and K requirements in an NVZ.