Welcome to the Morley Agricultural Foundation

About Us

A Brief History of THE MORLEY AGRICULTURAL FOUNDATION

NAS Founder Members

The Foundation is a relatively new organization, being formed in 2003, to manage the assets accrued by the former Morley Research Centre.

The Morley Research Centre was the title commonly used by an independent agricultural research body formerly known as The Norfolk Agricultural Station. This change of name was made in 1990 to reflect the wider aspirations of its governing committee who wished to extend the scope of its benefits and research to a much larger area.

The origins of The Norfolk Agricultural Station can be traced back to a movement for a more rational approach to farming during a period of prolonged depression in British agriculture at the end of the 19th century. It was at a time when the application of new scientific knowledge was seen as having useful potential to improve farming fortunes. Initially, field experiments were conducted around Norfolk under the auspices of the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture with help and guidance from Cambridge University.

In 1908, following a public meeting in Norwich to discuss setting up a demonstration farm, the Norfolk Agricultural Station was established. Lord Hastings kindly agreed to let about 53 ha (130 acres) of land at Little Snoring free of charge for 8 years and the working capital was generated by donations, loans and annual subscriptions.

The tenancy of the Little Snoring farm continued until 1921 when the tenancy of a new farm at Newton St. Faith's was negotiated. Three years later, however, it was apparent that the Newton farm was not suitable and another move was planned, to Church Farm, Sprowston. It was here that the Agricultural Station gained a reputation for sound field experimentation and began to build up expertise and equipment to that end.

Sprowston Offices

As the result of accumulated profits from farming, especially during and just after World War II, the Agricultural Station was in a strong financial position and in 1950 it was able to purchase the farms it had tenanted at Sprowston from the Gurney Trustees.

The Norfolk Agricultural Station became a model for the Ministry of Agriculture’s chain of Experimental Husbandry Farms set up within NAAS in the years which followed the end of the war, but it's Committee declined an invitation to become an integral part of that series. The Committee valued the Station's independence which they felt allowed greater opportunities to pursue local priorities.

1930s Test Drilling

As well as continuing its role as an experimental farm, The Norfolk Agricultural Station continued to farm profitably throughout the 1950s and early 1960s and, in 1964, was able to redeem the debentures issued for the purchase of the Sprowston farms. This cleared the way for the Station to gain substantial financial benefits from the inclusion of most of the farms in plans for urban development around Norwich.

Morley Manor and its farm were purchased as an alternative to Sprowston in 1965 with a view to improvement for arable farming purposes and eventually for experiments. The move was both slow and stressful, but ultimately it was successfully achieved and the bank overdraft was finally cleared in 1973. Since that time further parcels of land adjacent to the Morley Manor farm have been acquired bringing the total area to 415 ha.

Sprowston Harvesting

The surplus capital resulting from the sale of development land at Sprowston was invested in a broad portfolio to act both as a reserve and a source of revenue for a variety of research projects.

In 2003 the Morley Research Centre merged with the Arable Research Centres, based near Cirencester, to form The Arable Group, an independent organisation tasked with carrying out arable research across Britain. At this point The Morley Agricultural Foundation was set up to receive and manage the residual assets of the Norfolk Agricultural Station.