Sainsbury’s Adopts Flour from Traceable UK Farms

05/12/07 Sainsbury's has announced that it will be the first supermarket to use flour from guaranteed traceable UK farms in its 360 in-store bakeries. The flour will be sourced from a farmer owned cooperative and confirms Sainsbury's long-standing commitment to British farmers.

The move is central to Sainsbury's goal of being ‘the best bakery in town' by baking bread from scratch throughout the day, using top quality British wheat grown on farms in East Anglia.

Camgrain, via Grainfarmers - has been offered a long-term two year contract to supply the wheat milled for Sainsbury's in-store bakery flour by Whitworth Bros Ltd, providing longer-term security. For the first time, British arable farmers will have a direct relationship with a specific retailer for in-store bakery bread, and Sainsbury's customers will know the provenance of their bread.

Wheat will be collected from the Camgrain farmers with 90% within a 30 mile radius of the co-operative's central store in Linton, near Cambridge. The central store - the largest of its type in the UK - ensures highly efficient, safe storage of grain, with improved quality control, and a reduced carbon footprint.

A key part of the agreement is for Sainsbury's to work in partnership with British farmers so in January Sainsbury's will launch the 'Sainsbury's British Flour Development Group' (SBFDG) to share information and best practice between the retailer, the miller and the 300 wheat farmers belonging to Camgrain. This will encourage open and transparent communication from farmer to consumer. The group will drive efficiencies in terms of cost, processes, and the environment and will discuss farming codes of practice.

Simon Twigger, Sainsbury's business unit director said: "These initiatives confirm our commitment to British farmers and build on the success of similar initiatives we have taken with dairy and meat farmers. Our customers care passionately about the provenance of their food, which is why we challenged our in-store bakery team to source flour that has farm-to-bakery traceability. Our customers are guaranteed consistently high quality bread made with flour which has been regionally sourced."

John Latham, wheat farmer and Camgrain Chairman said: "Camgrain and Grainfarmers are delighted with this ground-breaking partnership. This agreement has provided our members with an opportunity to work in partnership with Sainsbury's, helping to deliver our strategy of providing high quality, innovative and differentiated combinable crops and services."

Camgrain sees this relationship as unique in the marketplace, offering unrivalled provenance direct to Sainsbury's and looks forward to developing this partnership through the SBFDG."

Grainfarmers' managing director Tim Davies said: "Acting as marketing agent for Camgrain, Grainfarmers was delighted to be able to recommend their business to Sainsbury's as the ideal partner in being able to deliver the highest quality milling wheat with known provenance for this agreement. Sainsbury's are able to deal direct with what is in effect one ready made producer group which will be able to develop the agreement over the coming years."

Sion Roberts of the English Food & Farming Partnerships (EFFP) said: "This commitment by Sainsbury's is good news not just for those immediately involved, but for the wider farming industry as well. We are often told that arable farmers are too far removed from the market to be able to add value and develop relationships with customers like Sainsbury's, but Grainfarmers, Camgrain and Whitworths have proved these detractors wrong."