Cereal, episode 6: How to build a better bread system

By Farmerama Radio
3rd February 2020
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We are the bread system. If you eat bread – or any grains – you are part of it. So 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

Thumbnail Photo by Wesual Click on Unsplash