By Jennifer Lapidus

Through forging relationships between bakers, farmers, millers, wheat breeders, crop specialists, and the general public, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project (NCOBFP), with funding from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission and Santa Fe Tobacco, is working toward a viable bread grain economy in North Carolina. We are currently working from a pilot perspective, but the opportunity to optimize this local food business model is in front of us. Centered on the demand for local foods, we hope to establish a model approach for regional processing of North Carolina grains. NC State University with NCDA&CS has been working in partnership with this project with demonstration wheat trials and education and outreach to farmers interested in growing organic wheat and hard wheat.

Beginning in 2002, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service launched a program to identify and breed hard wheat (bread wheat quality) for production in the humid environments of the eastern U.S. This year, two varieties of hard wheat have been approved for release: NuEast and Appalachian White, bred and developed for production in the eastern United States by USDA-ARS plant pathologist and geneticist Dr David Marshall. Samples of NuEast and Appalachian White grown organically in Moore County, received overwhelmingly positive feedback in both flavor and performance by NCOBFP’s pilot group of seven bakeries located in the western region of NC. The next step will be taking the wheat from fifty-foot test plots into the field. Although most of Dr Marshall’s wheat has gone to seedsman to grow out for seed, he has provided two acres worth of seed of each variety, to grow out organically for this pilot group of bakeries, enabling participating stakeholders to observe these wheat varieties beyond the fifty-foot test plots, and also, initiating the direct relationship between farmer and baker. The bakers will collectively purchase this crop. In addition, the NCOBFP has been provided, through the estate of esteemed oven builder and baker, Alan Scott, the use of a 48” diameter stone-burr Osttiroller gristmill with sifters. We have been provided the use of this mill for one year, as a test mill. The trial use of this mill, to be located in Asheville (housed within Annie’s Bakery warehouse) will enable the pilot group to work with NC wheat on a production level, figuring out product, level of extraction, and grains (beyond hard wheat) that can be milled. The goals of working with this mill for the year are to come up with product and work out operational logistics. With groundwork laid, after one year of using the mill, funds will be raised to pay the Scott family for the purchase of the mill. The mill is set to arrive by the New Year.

NCOBFP’s goal is a micro-milling facility that includes grain storage and cleaning, and is devoted to organic NC grains. We hope to leverage the market of NC grains through branding North Carolina flour and North Carolina bread products.

For updates on this project: http://ncobfp.blogspot.com/