Decentralise the UK food system
Vision: To decentralise the UK food system by returning processing power—the "means of production"—to the communities and farmers who grow our food.
1. The Strategy: Why "Mill and Make"?
For decades, the industrial food system has stripped processing power away from the local level, centralising it in massive, opaque factories. This has created a "Food Paradox": we have plenty of food, but no agency over how it is made, how farmers are paid, or the nutritional integrity of what we eat.
Fresh Flour is not just a pasta company; it is a strategy for sovereignty. By integrating milling and making at the source, we:
Restore Agency: People and farmers regain control over the final product.
Redistribute Wealth: Value stays in the local economy rather than being siphoned off by global distributors.
Nourish Systemically: Processing decisions are made based on health and soil, not shelf-life and profit margins.
2. The Pilot: The Farm-Led Model (Jersey)
The Jersey Blueprint represents one of our primary "optional steps" in making this strategy a reality. This version is Farm-Led and Owned.
Why the Farm-Led Model is Critical:
Provenance is Absolute: When a farm owns the mill and the extruder, the link between the soil and the plate is unbroken.
Economic Resilience: Farmers move from being "price takers" (selling raw grain) to "price makers" (selling artisan pasta).
Localised Industry: It proves that "light industry" belongs in rural settings, providing skilled year-round employment.
In Jersey, capturing just 1.1% of the local market isn't just a business target; it is a proof-of-concept. It shows that a single farm, equipped with the right tools, can feed a significant portion of its community without relying on industrial imports.
3. Beyond Jersey: The Commons Franchise
While Jersey is farm-led, our vision extends to a "Commons Franchise" model. This is the next step in our strategy:
Urban Mills: Returning milling to the heart of cities.
Community Hubs: Processing centres that are owned by the people they serve.
Open Source Knowledge: Sharing our blueprints (like the Jersey setup) so others can replicate the model without expensive consultants or corporate gatekeepers.
4. The Human Impact: Loneliness and Climate
Bringing production back to the people is an antidote to more than just a broken food system. It addresses:
Loneliness: Shared processing (packing, making, milling) creates "shoulder-to-shoulder" work that builds community.
Climate: By localising production, we drastically reduce "food miles" and incentivise organic farming through fair pricing.
Connection: The "Find Your Farmer" initiative turns a commodity into a relationship.
5. Summary: How We Think
At Fresh Flour, we are building a toolkit for a new food economy. The Jersey Farm-Led model is a vital piece of that puzzle. Whether it is a farm in the Channel Islands or a community mill in Devon, the goal remains the same:
To put the tools of nourishment back into the hands of the people.
6. Diverse Funding Pathways
To realise this vision at scale, we must move beyond traditional corporate finance. We have identified four key funding models that allow different communities to take ownership of their food processing:
Farmer Led: Direct investment by established farms using existing assets (like buildings or power) to fund the mill and extruder. This allows for total vertical integration and immediate provenance.
Finance System Led: Utilising impact-driven commercial loans or specialised agricultural finance to scale infrastructure while maintaining private ownership.
Community Led (Crowdfunding): Leveraging the power of the crowd to "bust open" the barriers to entry. This involves community shares or crowdfunding campaigns where the local people become the "investors" in their own local mill.
Grant Led: Working with forward-thinking trusts and organisations—such as the Real Farming Trust and their LEAP programme—to provide the catalytic capital needed for social enterprises to bridge the gap between concept and commercial viability.
Action for 2026:
We are starting a conversation. Through our website and publications like Reconnect and Totnes Pulse, we are inviting our community to look "under the hood" of this strategy. We aren't just selling pasta; we are proposing a different way to live.