Social business raising £30k through community shares
programme
is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply
that is healthy, equitable, locally-controlled and sustainable.
The idea of Scotland the Bread (STB) is simple: to grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home. STB requires a shares investment of £30,000 by the end of August 2016, primarily to ramp up a programme of wheat breeding and research, improve nutritional standards and help more communities to make real bread for themselves.
The idea of Scotland the Bread (STB) is simple: to grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home. STB requires a shares investment of £30,000 by the end of August 2016, primarily to ramp up a programme of wheat breeding and research, improve nutritional standards and help more communities to make real bread for themselves.
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| www.scotlandthebread.org |
At his organic agroforestry small-holding at Macbiehill near Peebles, he is growing more than forty trial plots of wheat, spelt, emmer, oats, rye and barley from seeds sourced from seed-banks around the globe including the Vavilov Institute in St Petersburg, NordGen in Sweden and the John Innes Centre in Norwich.
Andrew said: “We want to make things better – from the
ground up. We are committed to developing the most nutrient-dense and
digestible grains and bread possible, within the context and constraints of a
changing climate. This innovative social business is setting a whole new agenda
for cereal research and public health.”
Trial plots have been grown on other organic farms and on a
small scale in public spaces in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh has planted some of the project’s Swedish brown wheat in its
Demonstration Garden.
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| Image: Andrew Whitley with community bakers from High Rise in Glasgow |
Scotland The Bread’s research has begun with historic Scottish long-strawed wheat varieties such as Rouge d’Ecosse and Hunter’s, as well as selected Nordic landraces and evolutionary mixtures with a high degree of genetic diversity.
In initial testing at the James Hutton Institute, most of
the samples were shown to have above-average nutrient content. Now more funding
is required to test, and then release for sale, the current crop of more than
ten tonnes of 19th-century Scottish wheats that have already been harvested.
The primary incentive for investors is the social return
that comes from advancing this innovative work. So far STB has raised more than
£20,000, which means it is now eligible for a matched loan and grant, each of
£20,000, via the Just Growth programme.
A community-supported baking course was created by Andrew
Whitley and Veronica Burke at Bread Matters in 2008. It combines technical
baking skills with some of the commercial and financial know-how needed to
operate a successful community enterprise. These courses, advice and mentoring
services are integral to the project.
Scotland the Bread board member Dr Clare Fennell commented:
“We’re hugely encouraged by the support we’ve had for our share offer so far.
Now we can get on with skilling-up community bakers and letting bread take its
rightful place on the table as a nourishing staple food, enjoyed by everyone
and contributing to our wellbeing and economy.”
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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