been. They are deeply curious in their desire to bake the best bread in the world, and that extends to knowing how the grains that make their flours are farmed. “To me, the point of business is to find a way to improve something, to work on something that makes our world a bit better. At GAIL’s we do that by listening to what the bakers want to improve. About 18 months ago, initiated by Anomarel Ogen, our Executive Master Baker, we began conversations with our millers, who connected us to 10 nature-led farmers doing good things with their soils and improving biodiversity on their land. “The challenge those farmers face is that
the system doesn’t always value their efforts. We said, ‘We want to bake with the best flour we can; tell us what that means to you and what you need from us to make it a reality.’ “Farming in the way they do is not entirely predictable, so they need someone who can live with a degree of uncertainty around how much they will produce and what the exact specifications of the flour will be. “We can manage that. Our business works
with nature in seasonal cycles, so we have a flexible buying system and a production process that can handle complexity. “We accept that it’s difficult – there’s no
getting around that – but we do it because adapting to what nature provides is part of improving the food system. Imagine if the supermarkets could live with apples
weren’t all perfectly round! “You can’t do any of this without relationships built on trust. Contracts create efficiency, but relationships give you quality and traceability. When we get to know the people who grow our food and build trust with them, we put humanity into the supply chain. When we understand the efforts of the farmers looking after their soil, we develop
a deeper appreciation of value and quality, which we can then share with our customers. “Something true in food, but I think it’s true across most businesses, is a problem I call the limit of focus. Focus is great because you need to build expertise, but if focus leads to an inability to communicate with people around you, understanding disappears. With good food, you get the best results when you think about the whole supply chain and get people talking to each other because everyone must take their duty of care seriously. “It’s a change to the status quo, but it’s needed, and this is where I return to what an entrepreneur is for: to grow a healthy business around a constant search for ways to do things better. And if the returns from that go to people making meaningful changes, then I think that’s the right way to allocate resources better.
that
“I work on the assumption that humanity wants to be better. No one has a universal definition of what that means, but I think a business leader has to say, ‘This is what I believe the world needs, and here’s how I am going to improve things’. “At GAIL’s we think the food system should and can change, and we have an idea about what role we can play in that. This year, as we embark on this project, we will undoubtedly learn how to do that better, and hopefully to do more of it. This is evolution, not a cliff-edge. “We’re not leading that evolution – we’re helping to lead. We’re in a complex system that needs good people across the board, and there needs to be examples of how things can be better. This is one of those.”
Chapter two: A visit to Ampney Brook Farm, Cirencester, Gloucestershire The connection between flavour, nutritional value, and sustainably grown food is such that
each is an expression of the other. The more diverse and healthy the soil wheat is grown in, the more nutritionally rich and flavourful it will be. This is the idea at the heart of our Wheat Project, for which we are creating the conditions for farmers who share this belief to thrive. ‘Grow wheat in the way you know to be best for the soil, grain and the planet, and we’ll buy it,’ was what we said to them. Now, with the growing season underway, we want to check in with these farmers to see what good looks like, to witness first-hand what farming wheat in this way requires. And so we jumped on a train to Ampney Brook Farm. “You’ve almost come at the worst time!,”
says farmer Annie Landless from her farm office as she surveys the surrounding fields. Despite her grim verdict, she delivers it with characteristic warmth and a smile, which, thankfully, is infectious, because she’s right: in this in-between time in which “winter is nearly finished but not quite,” things appear rather subdued at Ampney Brook Farm, a 600 organic and regenerative farm near Stroud producing grass-fed beef and heritage grains. At the same time, coming here now, on a
bit of a whim and with no real agenda, is the point. Over the year-long scope of our Wheat Project, of which Ampney Brook Farm is taking part, we will follow the journey from seed to plant to grain to loaf, sharing stories along the way that track the flow of food from the fields to our bakeries. So, perhaps not a day for shorts, but a perfect day to talk about the realities of the farming calendar and the work to ensure a good harvest later in the year. “Farming is cyclical,” explains Annie as
we walk down a farm track, “and you know everything will come back; it’s just a matter of when. But it’s important to enjoy what’s in front of you.” Just then we hear the rather perfectly timed call of a chiffchaff. “Those birds are a
To me, the point of business is to find a way to improve something, to work on something that makes our world a bit better. At GAIL’s we do that by listening to what the bakers want to improve”
bakeryproduction.co.uk Kennedy’s Bakery Production April/May 2024 17
photography credit all on pictures] Elliot Sheppard
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