As the new decade dawns we bring you stories of hope and diversity from the Oxford Real Farming Conference. We hear from black farmers and growers who are working with the land to bring social justice and connection to their communities. We also hear from a long time landowner in the UK about building new ownership structures to bring the land back into community. Throughout the episode there are songs and themes that weave the conference together.

Regular contributor Joel Rodker continues to share his experiences working at Norwich Farmshare. This week he’s talking reflecting on the experiences of contributing to the CSA with other volunteers and members.

Reporting: Joel Rodker

Editing: Louis Hudson

https://www.instagram.com/norwich_farmshare/

https://www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk/

We are the bread system. If you eat bread – or any grains – you are part of it.

So how can we all get involved, and what can we do to usher in the new grains movement to build joy, nutrition and resilience in all of our communities?

In this final episode, we explore what a more efficient, nutritious, regenerative and joyful bread system might look like. We hear some of the ways people are coming together and building networks to strengthen the movement in the UK and further afield.

It’s clear that in this beautifully complex, entangled system, even just a conversation can spark much wider change. This is a story of hope and a blueprint that has the potential to cause reverberations far beyond bread. It turns out that bread is political – and you, too, can take a stand for the world you want to live in.

This might be our final episode of Cereal, but it isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning! Join the new grains movement. Talk to your local bakers, seek out local millers, thank your farmers, be open-minded, be curious.

A huge thank you to everyone who’s contributed to Cereal. As well as the voices you hear in this episode, many more conversations have helped to shape the series.

Thanks to Andrew Whitley (Scotland the Bread), Kim Bell (Small Food Bakery and UK Grain Lab), Mark Lea (Greenacres Farm), Fred Price (Gothelney Farmer), Steven Jacobs (Organic Farmers & Growers), Ben MacKinnon (E5 Bakehouse), Anne Parry (Felin Ganol), Rupert Dunn (Torth y Tir), Josiah Meldrum (Hodmedods), Tomaso Ferrando (University of Antwerp) and Fintan Keenan. Thanks also to the Lost Revellers and everyone who came to the Nottingham Cereal launch harvest party and lent their voices to make the Flour Ambassador's Pledge.

This series was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Roddick Foundation. Please listen, share, review and subscribe, and support the farmers instigating change. All six episodes can be found on Soundcloud and all podcasting platforms. And if you’d like to support Farmerama, visit patreon.com/farmerama.

Cereal is produced and edited by Katie Revell, with support from Abby Rose and Jo Barratt. Suzie MacCarthy and Hanna Söderlund also worked on the series. Our theme music is by Owen Barratt.

Voices:

Andrew Whitley, co-founder of the Real Bread Campaign, and Scotland the Bread

Kimberley Bell, founder Small Food Bakery, Nottingham

Steven Jacobs, Business Development Manager, Organic Farmers and Growers

Ben MacKinnon, founder E5 Bakehouse, London

Anne Parry, Felin Ganol Watermill, Wales, and Welsh Grain Forum

Rupert Dunn, Torth y Tir Community-Supported Peasant Bakery, Wales

Josiah Meldrum, co-founder Hodmedods

Mark Lea, Greenacres Farm, Shropshire

Fred Price, Gothelney Farm, Somerset

Tomaso Ferrando, Bread as a Commons

Fintan Keenan, farmer, miller and engineer, Denmark/Ireland

The UK is the fifth largest economy and has some of the cheapest bread in the world - is that something to be proud of, or is it a convenient outcome of a system that prioritises shareholder profit, fobs off economically deprived people with poor quality food, and throws away a third of what it produces?

It’s so ingrained in us that cheap food is better for everyone, but in this episode we ask you to stop and really think - are we supporting a system that is efficient for lining the pockets of a few, whilst impoverishing everyone else?

What if the real cost is our collective health, and the health of the planet?

Bread is not just money, bread is nourishment, deliciousness, companionship, connectedness, pride, politics.

In this episode we hear from bakers up and down the UK who are redefining the value of bread. Bakers who are making a stand for their communities and the planet.

Bakers from some of the most economically deprived areas who are bringing meaning, intention and joy to their baking. Bakers who are being recognised for their craft and sharing the benefits with their local communities.

This is about food networks, not food chains -- this is about reaching true efficiency that takes into account the whole system (health, environment, waste, community, joy), not just the financial balance sheet.

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

Voices:

Chris MacCormack, Govanhill bread man

Theo Laffargue, Riverside Bakery, Stirling, Scotland

Ben MacKinnon, E5 Bakehouse, London

Catriona Milligan, High Rise Bakers,The Gorbals, Glasgow

Rupert Dunn, Torth y Tir, Wales

Kimberley Bell, Small Food Bakery, Nottingham

Last year the majority of wheat grown in the UK went to feed animals. And of the wheat that did become flour in our homes and bakeries, most of that flour had to have nutrients added back into it - by law - because it was almost nutritionless by the time it came out of the mill.

In episode 4 we ask how did the milling process lead us to producing flour with almost no nutritional value? And why would the majority of the wheat grown in the UK go to animal feed?

We meet millers around the UK who are doing things differently, providing flour with terroir, flour that is fresh and filled with nutrition, using locally grown heritage varieties that are benefiting people and planet.

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

Intensive chemical (or conventional) farming systems can be incredibly efficient in perfect conditions, but in a global climate emergency this method of farming is out of date. We hear how soil health, biodiversity and regenerative farming are enabling farmers to move to a new system of farming that is nutritious for humans and the land. What is the experience of farmers growing the wheat, that’s ground to flour, that makes our bread? We explore why farmers are moving away from intensive chemical systems to more ecological approaches, why farmers are reclaiming their autonomy, detaching themselves from exploitative commodity markets, re-building connections with seed breeders, millers, bakers, and consumers – and once again finding reasons to celebrate diversity and distinctiveness.

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

Today, wheat covers an estimated 218 million hectares of the planet – more than any other food crop. The quality of a loaf starts with the wheat. Most bread we eat today is made using modern varieties of wheat that were bred for yield at the expense of everything else. These seeds produce a monoculture of plants that can yield a lot in a good year, but are reliant on chemical inputs and extremely vulnerable in the face of climatic extremes. Most shockingly international legislation dictates that trading any wheat seeds that don’t fit the modern wheat breeding criteria is essentially illegal.

We hear from a top scientist about new findings showing we need to dramatically rethink the seeds we sow if we want to feed the planet in years to come, re-focusing on diversity and quality.

And there’s real hope – stories of people all over the UK who are finding ways around these oppressive laws, building up a seedbank that supports diversity, low-input ecological farming and nutritious grains to feed people.

This is just the beginning. The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other.

This if the second episode in a 6 part series, Cereal, uncovering the hidden truths behind our bread and the people who are building a new grains movement.

Cereal is written and produced by Katie Revell and made possible by the generous support of the Roddick Foundation.

Featured in this episode:

Andrew Whitley, Bread Matters, Chairman of Scotland the Bread, currently based at Bowhouse Fife

Rupert Dunn, Torth y Tir, community supported peasant bakery, Wales

John Letts, Heritage Harvest

Martin Wolfe, Wakelyn’s Agroforestry (previously Professor of Plant Pathology at Cambridge)

Mark Lea, Green Acres Farm, Shropshire

Kimberley Bell, Small Food Bakery, Nottingham

Josiah Meldrum, Hodmedods

Bread. How did something so basic, so fundamental, get so complicated – and even start making us ill?

How have the needs of industrial production come to dictate the way that seeds are bred, grain is grown, flour is milled, and bread is baked and eaten? And why are more and more people cutting this age-old staple out of their diets? In this episode, we hear from bakers and researchers who reveal the hidden truths about what goes into our bread, and explain how that’s impacting our health. And we’re introduced to the Real Bread Campaign, a movement promoting bread that’s nourishing, tasty and environmentally sound.

The radical changes that our bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, farmers, the land, the environment, and each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

This if the first episode in a 6 part series, Cereal, uncovering the hidden truths behind our bread and the people who are building a new grains movement.

Cereal is made possible by the generous support of the Roddick Foundation.

This episode features:

Chris MacCormack, a home baker (Govanhill Bread Man)

Kimberley Bell, founder of Small Food Bakery, Nottingham

Chelsea Marshall, Trustee of Scotland the Bread

Andrew Whitley, Bread Matters, co-founder of the Real Bread Campaign, and Scotland the Bread

Theo Laffargue, Riverside Bakery, Stirling

November 18th marks the start of #SeedWeek - a great opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of local, organic and open pollinated seed. In this special short Katie Hastings, Wales coordinator for the Gaia Foundation’s Seed Sovereignty Programme, takes us on a walk with Gerald Miles, a Welsh organic farmer who recently protested the planting of GM crops by driving his tractor down to London. Katie and Gerald talk about growing black oats, and the work of Llafyr Ni to trial new oat varieties and strengthen seed resilience.

This short was recorded by Katie Hastings, and produced by Jo Barratt, Hanna Soderlund and Abby Rose.

In this special episode, part of our Women of the Land series with Chelsea Green Publishing, Abby chats with Rhonda Sherman, vermicomposting and recycling queen! Rhonda’s book, ‘The Worm Farmer’s Handbook’ is a fascinating how-to guide, demystifying the science and logistics of the process of vermicomposting, or composting with worms. We were so inspired by Rhonda’s worm wisdom, and loved learning all about how effective worms can be at encouraging microbes and building soil health! Check out the ‘Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage’ fact sheet Rhonda mentions in the interview below. Thanks to Chelsea Green Publishing for supporting this episode.

Rhonda’s ‘Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage’ factsheet:

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/worms-can-recycle-your-garbage

Our title photo is by Zachary Brooks at Arizona Worm Farm