ORC, through the Organic at the Heart project, helped to deliver the Grain Changers event in York on the 23rd October 2022. The event attracted more than 80 people who learned about the value of small-scale, localised, low-input systems, the importance of diversity within them and the work that the Yorkshire Grain Alliance is doing. On the day, demonstrations from across the sector brought the alternative grain system model to life; with two tractors brought to the inner-city community centre, farming quizzes, seed planting, threshing and milling, bread and pasta making, flour to take away with recipes and tasters of locally grown grain products.
The Yorkshire Grain Alliance aims to get more people buying non-commodity cereals and to increase the opportunity for farmers to move away from intensive (monoculture) systems. Group members want to see the benefits of diverse organic and agroecological farming systems (for biodiversity, climate and society) being applied over a greater area (i.e., more land being farmed with Health, Ecology, Fairness and Care in mind) and recognise the need for an alternative system of distribution and exchange within this. It grew out of the UK Grain Lab – which is a people led movement that co-ordinates the sharing of knowledge between a broad community of growers, breeders, brewers, millers, and bakers.
