ADM has launched Nature’s Gold Regeneratively Sourced Baker’s Bread Flour, as demand rises for ingredients that are better for businesses, communities, and the planet.
All wheat for the new flour is grown by ADM’s network of British farmers, who are focused on improving their soil health and farm resilience by implementing regenerative agriculture practices, the firm said.
Available in 16kg bags, the bread flour is produced via ADM’s UK milling operations, which are powered by 100% renewable electricity. The American agribusiness described it as the perfect choice of flour for bakers looking to boast premium sustainably sourced bakes such as artisan-style breads, rolls, pizza bases, and flatbreads, to name but a few applications.
ADM claimed that ‘climate anxiety’ has caused a shift in consumers perceptions of what environmentally friendly and sustainable means. It cited Mintel data from 26 May 2023 that had 48% of UK consumers agreeing the easiest way to tackle the climate crisis is through food and drink choices.
Reducing scope 3 emissions – which are completely dependent on the supply chain – is regarded as the biggest challenge a bakery business faces in its journey towards achieving net zero, as discussed in a recent sustainability feature.
Regenerative agriculture can help on this journey by restoring ecosystems and safeguarding the planet. It is based on five principles of land management including:
- Minimising soil disturbance
- Maintaining living roots in soil
- Continuously covering bare soil
- Maximising diversity with an emphasis on crops, soil microbes, and pollinators
- Responsibly managing inputs, including nutrients and pesticides.
The ADM Sustainable Wheat Project was launched in 2021, which brought together a group of pioneering UK farmers to map their carbon footprints over a three-year period and understand ways to reduce them. Findings from the ongoing project are said to have already helped steer ADM’s long-term support for farmers and led to an expansion of its regenerative agriculture and climate-smart agriculture programme to the UK and Poland earlier this year.
ADM said the implementation of the ISO 50001 energy management system throughout its flour milling locations demonstrates how it has created a culture of energy usage monitoring and saving. Continuous training, energy use assessments, and sharing of best practices (both internally and with customers) allows the business to set a benchmark within its industry to help drive improvement on energy management, it added.
The business has also invested in new trucks complying with Euro 6 standards (relating to diesel and petrol emissions), and enhanced drivers’ skills to improve its overall fuel efficiency by more than 10% over the last five years.
The Nature’s Gold Regeneratively Sourced Baker’s Bread Flour will look to compete against Wildfarmed’s offerings, which are already used in a whole host of products from M&S Collection Sourdough range and Ask Italian’s new pizza dough to the Garlic & Rosemary Deep Pan Focaccia by 4 Eyes Bakery, which recently won Britain’s Best Loaf 2024.
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