The Farmers Mart Dec/Jan 2016 - Issue 43 | Page 25

Great Newsome Farm

barley this spring. It’s all fitting
in nicely with the brewery as it
means their own malt is used
in their beers.
“We’ve grown decent
quality malting barley for
three successive years now.
It needs fewer inputs to grow

than winter barley so we’ve
reduced our winter barley
acreage and are getting yields
of around 3.5 tonnes per acre,
so it’s been a real no-brainer.
We also grow seed wheat –
Istabraq – for Limagrain; and
our oilseed rape varieties are
Anastasia, Nikita and Artogo.
We did just over two tonnes
per acre of it last year.”
UTILISING TODAY’S
TECHNOLOGY
The Hodgsons are also
careful where they apply
nitrogen and both use soil and
satellite mapping as well as
precision farming techniques to
ensure they are doing the job
right.
“Gone are the days when
you can plaster your land with
any amount of fertiliser and pig
slurry,’ said Jonathan.
Laurence recalled that the
farm ran to just 230 acres when
his grandmother, Ida Mary
Hodgson bought it.

“My father, Cec bought a
bit more acreage and then
Doreen and I had the chance
to buy a farm at Halsham that
ran to 170 acres taking us to
500. We had horses, sheep,
pigs and cattle at one time but
the only livestock left on the
farm today are pigs that we
keep on a bed and breakfast
basis for Easey’s in Ipswich. It’s
only in the past 10 years that
we have extended our acreage
to 720.”
Matthew runs the brewery
with Jonathan and Laurence
working on the farm side. They
have a stockman (Carl) and a
young man (Tim) who helps
out during summer and part
of winter. They also undertake
some contracting for a farming
neighbour.
Great Newsome Brewery is
now an expanding employer
in the area with three ladies
in the office including Doreen,
Matthew’s wife Donna, and
another lady called Rachel.

There are four other members
of the team namely: head
brewer Nick Hopper, who
started as a van driver;
assistant brewer, Shaun
McKinley who was a taxi driver
in Patrington; ex-military man
Nick Broadhurst; and Roger
Williams, who lives in Hornsea
but comes from Barnsley - and
who the Hodgsons still struggle
to understand!
Matthew smiled: “He’s a right
character but it’s taken us a
while to work out what he says he and Nick are both great story
tellers!”
Interestingly, the Hodgsons
now report that the turnover
from the brewery is close to
eclipsing the turnover from the
farm - quite an achievement in
just eight busy years!
Great Newsome Farm,
South Frodingham, Winestead,
Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire,
HU12 0NR
Tel: [phone]

www.farmers-mart.co.uk Dec/Jan 2016 25