IN 1980 when Howard and Rosemary Wass began to change their farming system to produce organic crops they were regarded as unusual to say the least.

In those days, organic farmers were in the main small-scale operators who were part of the "good life" syndrome which was just beginning to establish itself in certain parts of the country. Today, of course, Howard and Rosemary are at the forefront of modern day farming and selling all their organic products at prices which make other farmers green with envy.

Newfields Organic farm's 195 acres are run as a traditional North Yorkshire mixed farm, with a herd of 27 suckler cows which run with a Charolais bull the progeny of which are sold fat at about 18 months old and are all fattened on grass. A flock of 200 ewes, half of which are Suffolks and the rest Mules, are run with either a Texel or a Suffolk tup to produce fat lambs.

The sheep and cattle all run together on swards, which are predominately white clover mixtures, and Howard told me that the mixed stocking and the highly nutritious clover leys have a big bearing on the way his livestock thrive. All the stock is sold at considerable premiums, through the Organic Livestock Marketing Co-operative. Most of this meat goes to the supermarkets but, in addition, they have a good market for carcasses to sell direct to customers who are prepared to pay good premiums for organic meat.

In addition to the livestock unit, all the other crops on the farm are organic, with wheat and oats being grown for human consumption as well as being fed to the livestock. Marfona potatoes are sold in 50-kg sacks, again through a merchant specialising in organic produce, and were selling at £350 per ton on the day I was on the farm.

The only difference between Newfields Organic and the neighbouring farms is the amount of vegetables which are grown for sale and, in this respect, this farm is very different from their neighbours.

A wide range of vegetable crops are grown, all of which are produced without any of the modern-day chemicals which dominate the lives of today's farmer. All the weeding is done by hand, in the old-fashioned way and there are the equivalent of four full-time workers employed on the farm today. A similar farm of the same size in our area will be run as a one-man farm, often struggling to make a living.

The thing which stands out at Newfields is the quality and cleanliness of all the crops, in spite of the fact that all the weed control is done either mechanically or by hand and no chemical weed controls are used. Soil fertility is maintained by ploughing in crop residues and green manuring methods, as well as using the sheep flock to graze the vegetable residues once the crops have been sold. Red clover, which has been under-sown in the wheat crops, will also be ploughed back after it has been grazed by the sheep.

This is a very complex system, depending on very high labour inputs, coupled with first-class management of both the production and the marketing of the crops.

Howard stressed that it is important to add value to his crops by selling them direct to the public and, with this in mind, they have a very successful farm shop and have also started to sell some of their products at the local farmers markets as a way of advertising the high quality of their organic produce.

All this has been achieved at Fadmoor without the need to remove hedges and trees, and the field sizes are much the same as they were 50 years ago. Howard was at pains to point out, however, that the labour needed to run a system like his would not be available to the vast majority of farmers.

Even more interesting is the fact that the farm at Fadmoor is next to the moor and over 650 feet above sea level, rather than on the much more fertile lowlands which are the place one normally associates with large-scale vegetable growing.

Both Howard and Rosemary are very involved with the Methodist Church and still take preaching appointments all over the district on Sundays.

Newfields Organic farm is a quite unique establishment and proves to everyone it is possible to grow food successfully without the use of chemical inputs. But it also illustrates equally well that to do so needs labour inputs which would not be available on the vast majority of English farms.

Ken Harrison