Traditional wheat grower Heritage Harvest hopes a cash boost from Prince Charles will help spread the word about unusual varieties.
The company has been awarded £25,000 from The Prince’s Countryside Fund – one of only six grants given to groups that help preserve crop biodiversity.
The Oxford-based company grows hundreds of varieties of organic wheat across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, many of which have not been grown in the UK for hundreds of years.
It will use the cash to set up a demonstration farm at Collings Hanger Farm, near Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, as well as an education centre.
Eighty acres of trial plots will be sown with heritage wheat mixtures, and thatchers, organic farmers and traditional millers will be given the opportunity to attend on-site training sessions.
Director John Letts said: “We want to get farmers to come out and see the older varieties of cereals and we have had massive interest. The traditional varieties, such as Red Lamma, Golden Drop and April Bearded, can survive very difficult growing conditions and bad weather.”
He hopes to roll the concept out into other regions, where growers would be encouraged to work with millers and bakers to use these old varieties.
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