Historical photos from North Norfolk

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
1982 USAID also provided a 4 furrow mouldboard reversible, not really suitable and a bit heavy for the 275, only useful for ploughing at the end of the rains, rather than in the dry season, and a weeder/top dresser
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Dyno testing the Eicher with fuel consumption rig
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Mike Matthews from Silso at Chitedze research station on a tool and machine testing workshop
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Ox drawn groundnut lifter
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sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
1983 Got into tractor performance measuring.
Built a weighing machine out of a hydraulic jack
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Built a soil cone penetrometer out of a pressure gauge and a Land Rover clutch master cylinder
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Got into instrumentation - Fuel consumption measurement when working
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Doppler radar for speed measurement

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College Ag Eng Department stand at Agrex, agricultural show
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Ag Eng Department staff
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Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
I am sorry if it was taken that way. It was n't meant that way however ultimately all the work done and also the training carried out comes to nothing if the government's in these countries do not use it to move forward. Basically the work done in Norfolk will become a base that is either continued or advanced the work done in Africa generally declines the day you walk away. I am cynical but in no way am I attempting to insult those who try to help and educate.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
I am sorry if it was taken that way. It was n't meant that way however ultimately all the work done and also the training carried out comes to nothing if the government's in these countries do not use it to move forward. Basically the work done in Norfolk will become a base that is either continued or advanced the work done in Africa generally declines the day you walk away. I am cynical but in no way am I attempting to insult those who try to help and educate.
I am pleased to say that many of the results of our work in Malawi were adopted by the industry, and continue to be effective. It is the research stations that have gone, in large part the effect of the structure of aid and government finance and management. The work we did at Tea Research (photos in due course) was funded by the industry in all Southern Africa, so when Zimbabwe's currency went down the tubes, our funding followed and TRF went from 22 graduate scientists down to 2.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
1984 Got involved with the Malawi bioethanol from cane molasses - that produced 20% of our petrol, Malawi Gin, Brandy, Whiskey, etc. and the waste fed fish and chickens. Fish heads, chicken heads and guts got fed to crocodiles, so the byproducts were fish, chicken and crocodile meat, and crocodile skins for leather. We were testing blending ethanol with diesel, which works well in the short term but the ethanol picks up moisture from the air and separates out after a few days.
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My original computer setup

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Is now replaced by a Tandy Model 100 in a box on the tractor mudguard

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Ultrasound to measure plough depth, using ground speed pto to measure wheel speed.
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and sensors on the front wheel to get ground speed. Radar was too easily confused by weeds
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sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Also got into motorbikes
got a 1952 BMW 250 going
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Main lakeshore road North
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Then got a new Suzi 100, here photographed on the M1 after buying Jeep CJ5 spares in Mzuzu
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M1 again, had to drain the cylinder as water level was above the seat. At least it got a wash
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Then a Yam 175
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Getting fed up with keep washing and greasing chains, I had my first midlife crisis buy when BMW brought out the R80 GS. Flew down to Joburg and rode it back about 2000 miles. A magic machine
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sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
1986 moved to the Tobacco Industry Energy Efficiency project in Lilongwe at the Tobacco Research Authority. Our project was to reduce fuelwood consumption by the flue cured tobacco industry, which started at 22 m3 fuelwood per tonne of tobacco, so was devastating the indigenous forests.
Tobacco is hung from 4 or more layers of poles in a barn

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and fuelwood burnt in a furnace, generally badly managed

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The flue gases are ducted around the floor of the barn so the heat cures and dries the tobacco above.
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My late colleague designed an improved furnace (slot furnace) which kept the fire in the centre and stopped cold air going round the outside of the burning wood. It used old railway line to form the slot, and worked brilliantly, hot fire, self stoking.
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sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
My job was to build data logging instrumentation to be left on farm to monitor real barns and how they are operated. I had to design and build a single board computer (something I had never done before) and write the operating software. It ran for a month on 5 D cell NiCads, and we downloaded the data to a Tandy Model 100.
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Boards taped by hand, etched, drilled, assembled and tested on site by me and my colleague's 2 sons
Single board computer
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Analogue interface board
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Installed on a farm
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sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
(y)I'm agreeing with others now @sjt01 , you should write a book . At least make sure all of this is archived and recorded for posterity
I will not have a chance until I get someone here to take some of my workload! There is a potential candidate looking promising at the moment. I post this while waiting for my coffee to cool. There must be some way of scraping this lot off TFF as the start of a document.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
In 1989 I got married back in Norfolk, then returned to Malawi to the Tea Research Foundation in Mulanje. Tea is a nice crop - establish and harvest every year for 100+ years, with the occasional down prune. Not much attacks tea, unlike coffee which suffers from a host of bugs and diseases.
Mulanje mountain is a bit special. The tea is at about 3000 ft ASL, there is a plateau level at 6000 ft with mountain huts for accommodation, and the peak, Sapitwa is 9849 ft (3002 metres)
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The tea is plucked, just the top two leaves and the bud, and pruned to maintain a plucking table at waist height. In the peak growing season (November), plucking is every 7 days, extending to 21 days in May.
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Although the tea bushes look quite forgiving, they can contain a 100 year old stump, as my wife found when she did a 3 point turn into a tea bush. If a bus falls off the road, the tea has to be completely removed to get it out.
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When pruning, the cuttings are inverted over the bush to protect from sun
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Then removed as the new shoots develop
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If left unpruned develops into trees - here in the background used for seed production
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, it
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
I will not have a chance until I get someone here to take some of my workload! There is a potential candidate looking promising at the moment. I post this while waiting for my coffee to cool. There must be some way of scraping this lot off TFF as the start of a document.
@Chris F @Clive - do our techies have the ability to scrape this thread for @sjt01 ?

This has become my Thread Of The Year
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
When I arrived my colleague Alan Johnson had started building the Manufacturing Research Facility. He recruited me do to the instrumentation and data logging.
This was the building with the offices and research labs in the background

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Inside was pretty much an empty shell
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We had to install the boiler - a second hand Robey (1956)
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The crane operator had to be quite skilled, as when he lowered it would drop at least a foot before the brake had an effect.

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After some time and the boiler inspector, we were up and running
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Heat from the boiler was for drying the tea after manufacture, and could also be used to assist withering if the air was extremely humid.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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