Broom's Barn Experimental Station is a Rothamsted Research institute and arable farm in Suffolk, United Kingdom. The current farm manager is Mark Gardner.
History Lincolnshire In October 1959 the Broom's Barn site, of 190 acres, was acquired by the Rothamsted Experimental Station, with money provided by the Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee. Research had been taking place, previously, at the Dunholme Field Station, near Dunholme Holt, in Lincolnshire since 1935.Parliament May 2 1962
The buildings in Lincolnshire were not sufficient. The plant pathologist Raymond Hull had run the Dunholme site from 1949.Dunholme in Lincolnshire Dunholme was run by Rothamsted.Lincolnshire Echo Friday 4 November 1955, page 5Lincolnshire Echo Friday 16 October 1959, page 12
Suffolk In December 1959 it acquired planning from Thingoe Rural District in West Suffolk (county).Bury Free Press Friday 4 December 1959, page 7
The first sugar beet was sown by April 1961, but full operation would not be until 1962.Bury Free Press Friday 28 April 1961, page 5
It was officially opened on Friday July 27 1962 by Christopher Soames. It had cost around £250,000.Saffron Walden Weekly News Friday 3 August 1962, page 23
In the 1940s 500,000 tons of sugar were produced. By the 1960s, it was 800,000 tons.Bury Free Press Friday 3 August 1962, page 5
On Friday 13 May 1966, it was visited by the West German ambassador Herr Herbert Blankenhorn.Bury Free Press Friday 6 May 1966, page 21Bury Free Press Friday 20 May 1966, page 3
It merged in 1987 to become part of the Institute of Arable Crops Research. The funding for the site came from the Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee, which became the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO). The research which was being carried out was shut down by the director of the station and science staff left the site. Brooms Barn remains a fully functionally arable farm and LSRE station.
Funding In 1989, for every tonne of sugar beet, 9p went to Broom's Barn.Bury Free Press Friday 15 September 1989, page 8
Directors 1962 Raymond Hull, he died aged 85 on August 26 1996 in Little SaxhamBury Free Press Friday 30 August 1996, page 5 1977 Keith Scott Peter Longden, who researched weedsSpalding Guardian Friday 15 May 1987, page 11
Structure It is situated just south of the A14. In the early 2000s, the site employed around 70 people. It researched sugar beet.Telegraph January 2005 Until 1967, the Higham railway station served the site.
Research Beet necrotic yellow vein virus, known as virus yellow, was looked at, which leads to the disease rhizomania. It worked with NIAB in Cambridge and the British Crop Production Council.Lincolnshire Echo Friday 10 May 1963, page 12
It carried out entomological research into sugar beet pests.
Other sugar beet research took place at Lexham Hall in Norfolk.
In late 1999 it conducted research into genetic modification.Bury Free Press Friday 16 April 1999, page 18
See also Timeline of plant pathology
References
External links British Beet Research Organisation