The four farmer founders of The Green Farm Collective (TGFC) have teamed up with Eurostar Commodities to develop a line of flours produced using regenerative farming practices.
RISE RE:GEN Flour has the strapline Farmed with Nature and its launch underpins the intent of TGFC, to encourage the food industry to value sustainable farming both financially and ethically.
The farmers behind TGFC, Jake Freestone, Angus Gowthorpe, Michael Kavanagh and Tim Parton, formed the regenerative farming community four years ago to support other growers in their regenerative practices, promising to create new and lucrative end markets for TGFC members.
“The Eurostar team has embraced the importance of the farming approach that our members practice centred around soil health, reduced environmental impact and improving farmland biodiversity,” says Jake Freestone.
“They also recognise that the way we farm should be rewarded and we couldn’t have asked for more. They have developed an exclusive partnership and a bespoke brand of TGFC flours which they sell to their influential customers for pizza, bread and other wheat-based foods, and also pay us a fair and reflective price for our crops. It really is a true and respectful partnership and one that demonstrates Eurostar’s progressive leadership in the food supply chain.”
Eurostar Commodities is a family-run importer and supplier of ingredients to manufacturers, wholesalers, foodservice, retailers, and consumers across the UK, Ireland, northern Europe, the Middle East, and Iceland. The launch of the RISE range fits a growing interest from their customers for environmentally conscious ingredients.
“The market for regeneratively farmed flours is growing because consumer demand is growing, so it is a proud moment for our business to partner on such an important range,” says Diane Crabtree, Sales Manager at Eurostar.
The flour is sold in 16kg paper sacks as Strong or All Purpose Flour.
As yet, a standard for Regenerative Farming hasn’t yet been created, however, TGFC recognised the importance ensuring verification of both the farmer and their practices.
Jake adds: “We have teamed up with Food Integrity Assurance, an audit body, to establish under our own set of standards, including carbon and environmental baselining, diversity in crop rotations, farmland biodiversity policies, a nutrient management plan and minimal soil disturbance practices. We also have a partnership with Trinity Agtech’s Sandy software to record and report on members’ farming interventions to give full transparency to our farming methods.”
Beyond the standards and the new flour range, Jake says that TGFC is having an important impact, “our farmer members from around the UK and Europe are at different stages of their regenerative journeys and our community is one that shares and supports to give advice. Collectively we are creating a credible, traceable and fully audited set of practices which gives confidence to partners like Eurostar as well as their all-important customer base.”
The Green Farm Collective won the 2023 BBC Food and Farming Awards Farming for the Future category with Farming Today and The Archers.
