Our Story

From Scotland The Bread to Bread For Good

Scotland The Bread began with a simple idea: grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly, close to home. Its aim was to prove that it is possible to build a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, fair, locally controlled and sustainable, built on nourishment, sustainability and food sovereignty.

Beginnings

Scotland The Bread was founded in 2012 by Andrew Whitley and the late Veronica Burke, who had established their work at the forefront of the Real Bread movement in the UK.

Central to this new venture was the innovative and collaborative approach that had already been established through their work at Bread Matters Ltd to develop a more nutritious grain, flour and bread supply chain.

Working with scientists at leading institutions, they began researching heritage Scottish and Nordic wheats, searching for nutrient-rich varieties that thrive in local conditions.

Community Ownership

In April 2016, Bread For Good Community Benefit Society was formed, trading as Scotland The Bread, to bring the project into community ownership and expand its reach. With support from Community Shares Scotland, a community share offer raised over £36,000. Reaching that target unlocked further financing through Just Growth, and a successful crowdfunding campaign brought match funding from the A Team Foundation.

Growing and Milling

In November 2017, the first three organic wholemeal flours were launched, sold online and at markets.

In autumn 2018, operations moved from Andrew and Veronica’s agroforestry farm in the Scottish Borders to Bowhouse on Fife’s Balcaskie Estate. The first crop (always organic) was harvested there that year, and in September the UK’s first Zentrofan mill was installed.

Over the following years the Society grew and milled organic grain using regenerative farming, supplied bakers and home bakers, and donated flour to community groups through its Solidarity Bag programme. Flour to the People built breadmaking skills and local food resilience in community food hubs. Soil to Slice supported communities growing their own wheat plots, and the People’s Plant Breeding initiative brought citizen scientists into crop development.

A Decade of Impact

With the support of shareholders, subscribers, supporters and customers, Scotland The Bread:

• rescued three nearly forgotten Scottish winter wheats: Rouge d’Ecosse, Golden Drop and Hunter’s
• spent nearly ten years researching, growing and milling grains more nutritious than commercial alternatives
• engaged communities across Scotland in participatory research
• helped people take their health into their own hands with healthier bread from a fairer, more resilient local food system

A New Chapter

As the Society approached its tenth birthday, it made the difficult but necessary decision to move on from growing and milling. We will now focus on agroecological research, translating findings into advocacy and making real bread more accessible. Andrew Whitley has stepped down from the board but remains a supporter in the background.

The work was always intended as a proof of concept, and it succeeded: excellent organic wheat and rye can be grown in Scotland, milled to preserve nutrients, and distributed to like-minded bakers. Now the team wants to share what it has learned with others who might replicate our decade-long pilot.

The vision is unchanged: fair deals for farmers, fewer food miles, more nutrition in every slice, and more jobs per loaf as the emphasis shifts from factory bread to community and home bakers.

The Society thanks everyone who has contributed over the past decade. It welcomes contacts, professional expertise in communications, fundraising or accounting, and donations or in-kind support.