Filling the UK
Food Gap
A Toolkit to Inspire
Small-Scale Production and Processing of Grains and Pulses
This Toolkit is for you if you are interested in the small-scale grain and pulse movement; whether you are a grower, miller, baker, food processor, retailer, a researcher, or a seeker of nutritional food
Read on to get an overview of the Toolkit and how it might assist you. To find out more about who we are and how we came to be, go to our Our Story section.
We designed this Toolkit with two parallel aspects to it. The first is in the form of a series of checklists. These are the factual aspects of the content; the things that you need to consider when making decisions about setting up processing premises, or growing your crops; the systems that you need to put in place and the bureaucratic aspects of running a food business. The second is in the form of case studies. The principle one being the Grown in Totnes case study. This is our experience and where you can get to understand the reality of implementing what we have covered in the checklists; this is where the learning really lies.
Our story tells of the ethos and motivation behind Grown in Totnes: how we set ourselves up; the financial considerations that we made; how we worked with farmers and chose the crops that they grew for us; what was involved in growing, harvesting and caring for the crops; the things we learnt around processing, how we marketed our products and got them to our customers. We hope that by knowing our story you can avoid some of the pitfalls that we made and build on our successes.
Dartington Mill, the successor to Grown in Totnes, has been included as a case study, it completes the Grown in Totnes story and demonstrates the differences in business model.
Both are examples of how a project might run, but there are many other models out there, with different emphasis. Over time we hope that others will add their case studies to this site in order to provide a comprehensive how-to guide to small-scale crop production, processing and marketing. See Your Case Study for information on how to add the narration of your experience to this resource. By contributng your story you will help keep this site alive, up to date and useful; helping the small-scale crop movement to grow and flourish.
The UK Grain Lab
The UK Grain Lab gathers together farmers, millers, plant breeders, bakers, cooks, scientists and academics to promote the growing and eating of non commodity grains in the Uk.
They have created a platform for information sharing and peer to peer learning amongst the small-scale crop movement. The shared alignment in their vision with Grown in Totnes’ has created fertile ground for this partnership, and is the obvious place for this Toolkit to be hosted.
The UK Grain Lab will signpost interested parties to the toolkit and encourage it’s ongoing relevance and expansion by supporting growers, millers and bakers to share their stories of growing and processing local cereals and pulses, on this website. For more details see the Your Case Study section.
Our story
Here you will read about the different influences that led to the creation of Grown in Totnes, a Transition Town Totnes project. You will learn about the research that was undertaken, and the personal journey that the founder - Holly Tiffen - went through to realise the project.
Grown in Totnes Case Study
A deep dive into the realities of our experience at Grown in Totnes. The unforeseen, the successes, the challenges and the celebrations. Knowing about these aspects will help shape your enterprise.
Chapter 01: Planning Your Enterprise
Chapter 02: Growing the Crops
Chapter 03: Processing Facilities
Chapter 04: Harvesting
Chapter 05: Crop Care
Chapter 06: Processing the Crops
Chapter 07: Pricing & Delivery
Chapter 08: Marketing
Chapter 09: Community Takeover
Chapter 10: Acknowledgments
Checklists by Chapters
A birds-eye view of the factual aspects of your enterprise to consider. Dip into the chapters that are relevant to your needs.
