Northumberland Farmer is Tye Trophy Winner
A Northumberland farmer and landowner has been named the overall winner of the
prestigious farming award – The Tye Trophy.
The award recognises the contribution of farmers in the North East of England
and Yorkshire to wildlife conservation and environmental protection and, for the first time, it
has been organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and the region’s Farming
and Wildlife Advisory Groups (FWAG).
Mr John Carr-Ellison of Hedgley Hall, Powburn near Alnwick, combines running
his estate in this country with managing 50,000 acres in Eastern Europe. He was
named the county’s area winner before scooping the overall title at this week’s
Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.
Along with the other four area winners, he now has the option of going forward
to next year’s prestigious Silver Lapwing Award. The five areas represented are
North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, South & West Yorkshire, Northumberland and
Tyne Tees.
The awards were presented on Wednesday, July 11, by Mrs Alison Saville, who gave
the trophy in 1989 in memory of her grandfather Howard Tye, founder of Tye Trailers,
and also her father Kenneth Tye. She was assisted in the presentation ceremony
by Michael Woodhouse, FWAG Director for England.
Hedgeley Estate is just under 4,000 acres and located in the Breamish Valley
on the edge of the Northumberland National Park. It has one let farm, 500 acres
of commercial forestry, and the rest is managed in hand in two units, a hill farm
which runs 1,900 Blackface and Swaledale breeding sheep and a pedigree Galloway
herd of 100 cows and their followers. The in bye farm comprises 1,000 acres of
arable and runs 2,400 North Country Mule breeding sheep.
John Carr-Ellison also manages a number of farms in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
comprising 51,000 acres of arable cropping. Commenting on the award, Mr Carr-Ellison
said: “We are delighted to have won the Tye Trophy. I am proud and grateful to
our small band of staff, both on the farm and in the office, without whose dedication
we would not have achieved so much. I would like to thank the judges for their
time and enthusiasm and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for organising the
competition.”
At the same time he pointed out the importance of such Awards being judged by
practical farmers, as the Tye is. “I do think the holding of such a competition
raises a number of important issues. Most farmers are delighted to do what they
do for conservation because they want to, and not because of the chance of winning
a competition. Different farms and farmers will have different priorities and
give differing weight to the various demands on their resources. Judging these
must necessarily be subjective.
“I believe that the responsibility for countryside and land management should
move back to the people most qualified to manage it, the farmers. We are the ones
whose skill in managing the countryside has been appreciated by society for generations,
and whose skill and integrity is now rubbished by the media and politicians of
all views with their comprehensively urban values and perspective. In short, we
are not trusted to manage our beloved land by a sector of society who does not
understand that conservation of all that is good is more important to us than
it is to them. After all, we live in it, they visit it on fine weekends.
“I am a great supporter of the RSPB and have been a member for 42 years. However,
I do not agree with everything they say and I certainly would not like them to
manage my farm.
“There is a worrying trend by central government to attempt to rule the countryside
by diktat. I am much better qualified to manage my farm than some youth with a
degree in environmental science. I will produce a better result for all interested
parties, and more to the point I will produce a profit as well, and thereby keep
my workforce in employment.”
He added: “Responsibility needs to be given back to us farmers to manage the
land as we see fit. We need to stop pulling our punches and hiding our lights
under a bushel and come out and tell everyone what we all in our heart of hearts
know. We will do it better than anyone else and we will do it best if we have
the minimum of interference.
“Certainly we farmers need and appreciate good advice. However it should be left
to us to weigh up the value of often conflicting views from different agencies
and make the best decision on the day. Anything else will be a mess.”
(l-r) Charles Beaumont, FWAG, Mrs Alison Saville
and winner Mr J Carr-Ellison