Cotswold mill promotes regenerative flour to help the planet

Matthews Cotswold Flour, based in the Cotswolds, is encouraging the wider use of regenerative agriculture and working towards making all its flour from grain grown using these methods by 2030.

Regenerative farming focuses on improving soil health, increasing biodiversity and capturing carbon.

Bertie Matthews, managing director and the eighth generation of the family to run the business, said: “We have long advocated for regenerative farming practices, which prioritise soil health, biodiversity and carbon capture.

“Through our Cotswold Grain Partnership, we work closely with local farmers to ensure they adopt practices that protect the environment.

“We are working alongside them to move all our grains to a regenerative farming model as soon as possible.

“These are long term partnerships that will benefit the soil, the farmers and our customers for generations to come.”

The 200-year-old company currently offers nine flours milled from regeneratively farmed grain.

One of the growers involved in the Cotswold Grain Partnership, Ed Horton, supplies durum wheat, spelt, and milling wheat.

Mr Horton said: “Our regen journey started about ten years ago, when I returned to the family farm.

“Our partnership with Matthews Cotswold Flour has enabled us to do this and, as well as the hugely rewarding environmental progress that we have made on the farm, we have reduced the risk exposure related to high inputs such as fertilisers.”

Matthews Cotswold Flour uses a self-developed audit system and set of standards to help farms improve environmental performance.