Business diversifies into the kitchen

JSR Farming, mainly famous for pigs and crops from the Driffield area and North Lincolnshire, wants the Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School to be a self-financing provider of skills which the tv chefs have made desirable but which are still missing from many people's educational experiences.

Tim Rymer, chairman of JSR, which was founded by his father, John Sykes Rymer, said after announcing the project this week: "It has everything to do with farming. Everyone has learned the value of quality and local and so on but too many are disappointed by the last act - actually cooking the meal. Poor cooking skills are a threat to our business; good cooking skills are a great opportunity for us."

JSR's main business is selling breeding stock to pig farmers but it also does some rearing for meat and is working on a premium brand to be called Crackling Farm Pork.

Also, through Givendale Prime at Pocklington and other interests, JSR has a big stake in the Stabiliser breed of cattle – a competitor to the variety of cross-breeds supplying most of the beef market.

The new kitchens at Highfield Farm, Southburn, near Driffield, will be used in consumer testing exercises for both projects.

But their main purpose is to teach cooking at all levels, from basics for children to gourmet tips for advanced cooks.

The school has room for eight people to cook and up to 25 to watch demonstrations.

Business manager will be Alison Johnson and head chef Ali Bilton, a cook with wide experience who runs her own catering business from Painslack Farm, near Wetwang.

Opening offers include courses in canaps and curries at 45 a head each; and in mastery of Christmas dinners, fish and Italian and Thai cuisine at 150 each. Dads and kids courses teach the secrets of a roast pork dinner followed by banoffee pud for 150 a couple.

The school will be opened on on Thursday October 28 by Bernard Hoggarth, chief executive of pork processor Cranswick PLC, and will feature cooking demonstrations by Yorkshire-born celebrity chef Brian Turner, for invited guests. A public open day is scheduled for October 30 – 10am-2pm at Highfield Farm, Southburn, YO25 9AR.