The North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project (NCOBFP) aspires to revive the centuries-old tradition of linking the farmer, the baker, and the miller. As I would imagine anyone reading this blog already knows, due to a combination of factors, most prominently-- drought conditions in the major bread grain growing regions of the world and the displacement of bread grain production with corn production for ethanol-- 2007/08 experienced a deficit wheat crop, causing the price of wheat to soar. Additionally, in North Carolina where the vast majority of bread wheat is trucked in from other parts of the United States, the price of wheat is compounded with the ever-increasing cost of fuel. On the other side of the coin, it is now economically viable for North Carolina farmers to grow bread wheat.
The idea of this project is to link the farmer, the baker, and the miller, forging relationships and creating security for all three. Under the auspices of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, this initiative has been supported with funding through the NC Tobacco Trust and Sante Fe Tobacco. Partnering in this project is North Carolina State University’s North Carolina Organic Grain Project, the USDA- Agricultural Research Service, and NCDA with funding from the Golden Leaf Foundation.
This blog intends to be both informational as well as an interactive site to guide the discussion. So, here we go...
Jennifer, I met you a few years ago at the Artisan Bread Festival in Asheville. I met Dave from Farm and Sparrow today, and he told me about this project. This sounds really wonderful and exciting. I am in Carrboro, NC and run a home based bakery, preserving, & lacto-fermenting business called Farmer's Daughter. www.farmersdaughterbrand.com. I would just like to add that it is nearly impossible to find locally grown and milled organic soft winter wheat as well for pastry bakers. AND this is the flour that we are known to be capable of growing! It might be outside the focus of the grant, but I just wanted to throw that into the discussion. Please keep me in mind for future nc baker discussion and action.
ReplyDeleteActually the growing of soft wheat is not outside the focus of this grant. Part of the point of this project is to see what the bakers' community would like to have grown. And the idea of creating both a bread flour as well as a pastry flour is most certainly something that could (and should) be done.
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