Farm of the Week: North York Moors organic vegetable growers whose cauliflowers are in demand with foodies

John was born just down the road in the village of Gillamoor and said he was always interested in growing vegetables, driving tractors and keeping poultry from an early age.

“I was always interested in farming. My dad didn’t farm but my grandad and uncle both did and I would be with them or working for Howard and Rosemary Wass. I used to come here to pick the vegetables.

“Dad liked growing things in his garden, entered shows with his produce and I’d help him. I also showed poultry like white leghorns and black leghorns with my brother James.

“When I left school I came to work on a YTS scheme with Howard and would go to the Pickering Agricultural Centre. I then went into full-time agricultural education at Askham Bryan College for three years and in my middle year worked for David Morgan at Wykeham.”

It was to be the only other farm John has ever worked on for any decent period of time as when he finished his studies he was straight back to Newfields Organics and to Howard and Rosemary.

John said his future hadn’t quite been cast in stone.

“I had thought that maybe I would go on somewhere with big fancy tractors when I’d finished at college but I came back and Howard and Rosemary had bought a new tractor anyway.”

Tragically, Howard passed away suddenly in October 2007. John said that until November 2020 when Rosemary retired, the farm had still been down to her calling the shots.

“Howard and Rosemary were both my bosses throughout the previous 27 years but the one thing they always did was to let me have my say. We always discussed what to do.”

Newfields Organics became an organic farming enterprise in the 1980s, way before the organic revolution of the late 1990s. It is a mixed root crops, cereals and livestock farm that runs to 200 acres that John and Rachel now tenant from Rosemary with an additional 100 acres they rent elsewhere.

The vegetables and eggs are what Newfields is known for with customers making regular visits from far and wide.

John said the 30 acres of vegetables that go into their humble roadside farm shop continue to form a large part of their overall business. “We have eight acres of cabbages including red, savoy, white, January King, pointed and black; four acres of carrots, two acres of parsnips, two of leeks, broccoli and everything from fennel to onions, celeriac, swede, spring onions, pak choi, kalette, sprouts, golden and red beetroot, red, green and curly kale and cavalonero, which is a cross between kale and cabbage.

“Cauliflower is definitely on an upward trend. It just seems as if everyone has found out about them. They are known for being high in fibre and vitamin B, that they can enhance weight loss and digestion and include choline which is good for learning and memory. They also have antioxidants and polynutrients that can help against cancer - but I just think that people like them and all our vegetables because they are fresh from the field.

“We now grow nearly 100,000 caulis of all sorts from purple and orange to Romanesque and the way it is going we look as though we will have to increase that number to meet the demand.”

Rachel said the cauliflower boom has as much to do with today’s cooking as anything else. “Everyone seems to want to roast them or make cauliflower rice or cauliflower steaks.”

John said that there are times when organic crops need just a little help. “We have our soil tested for our organic status and we do all we can not to put anything on the crops. A couple of years ago our swedes were deficient in boron. What is important for any organic producer is to obtain a derogation to put some sprays on.

“We avoid this kind of thing wherever we can. We have had flea beetle attack our black cabbage and pak choi. We have had pigeon damage. We put sheets over the crop at times, like a fleece. We just hope they move on and don’t do too much damage.”

John’s other cropping is potatoes grown for seed across 30 acres that is all certified seed organically grown for a company in Scotland; plus spring barley across 48 acres and oats across eight acres all grown to feed the livestock on the farm.

Livestock numbers are 50 suckler cows, 175 breeding ewes and 200 laying hens. John said all of the calves, but for a few heifer calves kept for replacements, go to Dovecote Park at around 18-24 months.

“The cows are a mix between Limousin, Charolais, Simmental and Luing. I went to Stirling to a Luing cattle sale which got us started on Sim-Luings. They are a good, milky sort and very good mothers.”

John said that he is looking to add a few more cows to his herd and bringing ewe numbers up to 250 in the future.

“Our sheep are mainly made up of Suffolk-cross-Scotch Halfbreds, Scotch Halfbreds and Texel-cross-Beltex. We have a few Swaledales breeding Mules too. We’re on good land here at 650 feet above sea level which will see the sheep sold at either Thirsk livestock market or to Dunbia at Carnaby.”

Newfields Organics doesn’t supply anyone else with vegetables and eggs. It is all traded from Fadmoor. “It’s hardly what you would expect of a fancy shop,” said John. “It’s basically a shed with vegetables in it, and people keep coming.”

Rachel has her own job away from the farm as well as being mother to their two young children, George and Anna.