Hi all
For those of you who don't already know me, I am Will and with the help of family I have spent the last few years setting up Cornish Golden Grains - ‘CGG'
At CGG we have a number of aims.
To produce a natural surplus without heavy reliance on modern chemicals and fertiliser.
To combine environmental enhancement with food production. Why leave parts of the field for wild life when we can share the whole field to the benefit of all?
To produce good wholesome food
To market directly to the end user
We run a small farm in mid Cornwall. Without the benefit of scale we aim to earn a living by putting in the extra work to sell a finished product.
This has been much easier said than done. There are very few tools that are made for small scale work, most are industrial and totally useless to us so we have to improvise build or buy antique equipment and make it work again.
We study and grow mainly landrace wheats, this means ancient varieties not hybridised or modified, therefore are more adaptable and vigorous, producing a more nutritious grain.
We also grow trial plots of many different grains and vegetables, constantly looking for something with future potential
We feel this work should be carried out on small farms because without gaining and maintaining a working practical knowledge of natural production with such minority crops we are unable to understand the benefits and pitfalls of mainstream agriculture.
Food production was at its peek in the 1970s in the UK when old practices overlapped with modern systems. Modern agriculture alone is not performing and it is time to tern the tide.
In the fields I have found many artefacts including Ox shoes worn by working Oxen most likely in the 18th and 19th centuries and flint tools dating back thousands of years, these are little reminders of the people who worked the land before us but the crops we grow are living history and with your help we will pass them on for countless generations to come.
Will