Irishtown hobby farmer Marty Byfield returns to his Northam farming roots

The story of how people become hobby farmers is always interesting and for Marty Byfield, it was a way to return to his farming roots without investing in an all-consuming broadacre farm late in life.

Mr Byfield, a fifth-generation farmer, can trace his lineage back to some of the first folk to settle in the Northam area - and looking through old archives, it is obvious the Byfields have been influential in the district.

Andrew Byfield was the first of the family to arrive in Western Australia, one of 31 passengers on the ship Westmoreland arriving in 1840.

He established the Mahogany Creek Inn, Mundaring, which many travellers along the Great Eastern Highway will be familiar with, reknowned for its whitewashed brick and red corrugated iron roof homestead.

The Mahogany Creek Inn was a hub for Northam locals and was significant for sitting on the route to WA's early agricultural and development areas.

According to the Mundaring and Hills Historical Society, incidents between European settlers and Aboriginal people along the York Road resulted in the establishment of a military station at Mahogany Creek in 1839.

When these barracks were abandoned, the building was converted to a wayside inn, later known as Mahogany Creek Inn - which as since been listed as a State heritage building.

Andrew's son, James Byfield, was the first of the Byfields to develop a passion for agriculture.

He was well known throughout the Shire of Northam for his large farm and for running the local flour mill.

In February 1890, James' new flour mill had begun production and was already "packed full" with bags, as was the old flour mill building, according to the WA Record.

The WA Record of February 13, 1890, reported that harvest was over and the "crops have turned out well" and "good times have come again", with some farms reaching 25 bushels per acre (about 1.68 tonne per hectare).

A statistic which really puts things into perspective.

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The large harvest made it an extremely busy year for James' flour mill, which he operated until 1902.

"To give an idea of the large quantities of wheat which were sent into Northam, as many as 100 bags were received in the mill in one hour," the paper said.

A jack of many trades, James was a leading building tractor and designed many significant buildings in Northam - including Byfield House and established a coach building business.

He served on the local shire council for 35 years from 1879 to 1914 and was also the owner of the first car in Northam, a 1904 Oldsmobile.

James was killed in November, 1914, after being crushed by a wheel of a wagon - when the horse harnessed to the wagon moved while loading and dispatching chaff.

The West Australian reported the funeral was "probably the largest ever seen in the district", with more than 100 vehicles in the procession and a large number of people by foot.

"(The funeral size was) bearing eloquent testimony to the widespread esteem and regard for one who, by general consent, was an industrial pioneer of the district and for many years one of the most active and public-spirited citizens," the paper said.

Farming continued to remain in the Byfields' veins and Mr Byfield has fond memories of spending his childhood at the family farm.

"We used to go up there on weekends and school holidays when I was about eight," Mr Byfield said.

He returned to the family farm after completing boarding school, but decided to leave after experiencing two "corking" droughts - instead moving north for work.

After working in a variety of different roles, including a stint as an earthmover, Mr Byfield decided to return to his roots and resume farming.

He started with a small 80-hectare farm Irishtown 35 years ago, which has slowly grown to be about 400ha, growing wheat, lupins, canola and running a small hay operation.

Mr Byfield no longer wants to expand, a decision that is a result of both economic and physical capabilities.

"The price of land is too dear now, I can't afford it, it's crazy," he said.

"It's just big enough that I can do it on my own if I have to, if you get any bigger you have to start employing people and you have to do more.

"So no thanks at my age - a young bloke might want to stick his neck out."

Mr Byfield said one of his sons was considering giving farming a try next season, but if he didn't enjoy it they would probably sell the land.

Irishtown is full of lots of smaller hobby farms, with Mr Byfield owning one of the larger blocks in the area.

He said he would consider splitting the land back into smaller parcels so more hobby farmers could enter the area.

When Farm Weekly visited Mr Byfield, he had just finished spraying and was burning canola stubble which was a problem following a big harvest.

Being a smaller hobby farm has with its difficulties, especially when it comes to machinery.

"A lot of people crunch the canola stubble, but I don't have one of them," Mr Byfield said.

"Being small I don't have a lot of machinery, I have a bit of a trash flow problem with the bar - it's an old air seeder, but I do it the same as everyone else."

Mr Byfield had a fantastic season last year, with his wheat averaging five tonnes per hectare, which he said was "quite amazing".

"You sort of always hope you'll get about 3.5t/ha - 4 t/ha would be nice, but 5t/ha is just ridiculous," he said.

Mr Byfield put in some lupins in the first week of May and starting seeding wheat this week, after 70 millimetres of rain in the past couple of months.

"We get a bit of frost around here in the low lying areas, so I don't put wheat in until at least May 14 to minimise the frost risk," he said.

Mr Byfield had "not a clue" what to expect this season or how the crops would yield.

"You don't have to go to the casino, you can just bung it in and see what happens," he said.

The Byfield farm is exclusively cropping after the sheep were sold off five years ago.

The decision to get out of sheep was made as Mr Byfield wanted to take some "long service leave" but couldn't because of the continual maintenance sheep needed.

When he went on holiday the price of sheep increased and upon his return he sold them.