If you could buy flour produced from Irish wheat, would you? If you found out the flour on shop shelves was not Irish, would you be surprised?

In reality, the vast majority of flour that is consumed in Ireland is imported or the wheat to make that flour is imported.

In fact, in recent years approximately 230,000t of flour has been coming into Ireland from the UK and Brexit created uncertainty for the supply chain. In 2018, we imported flour from 25 different countries.

The milling wheat sector in this country, apart from a few artisan and small producers, has been allowed to fall by the way side, much like Irish sugar, which there is definitely none of in this country. The last crops of beet grown for sugar production were harvested in 2005 and the last working factory, in Mallow, was closed in 2006.

Yet these products still carry the word Irish or Ireland on their packets.

Flour on supermarket shelves, whether that be a brand or a supermarket’s own brand, carry words like “produced” or “made” in Ireland. Unfortunately, a lot of the time all that happens to the wheat is that it is milled here or it might only be that the flour is bagged in Ireland.

Andrew Kavanagh has been researching the flour business for some time. The Co. Wexford native is on a mission to build a flour mill and mill Irish grain. He has had planning permission for this mill since 2017, but says he needs some Government support if he is to construct the €20 million facility.

The new business will provide a market for a premium crop that tillage farmers could plant on their farms. Premium crops are essential to the future of this low-emissions sector.

“We have full planning and we have the mill designed in great detail. If we were to get some Government support it might unlock grant aid to help this to happen and we would be able to start building in the morning,” Andrew explained.

His focus is on food security and building a mill to supply flour produced from Irish wheat.

He does honestly add that Ireland will still have to import some wheat in order to make a grist that will suit bakeries which produce sliced pan. Andrew explained that wheat to produce flour for sliced pan has to be equivalent to the UK’s “group 1 wheat”.

He has grown milling wheat on his farm for three years and tested samples of the grain. The flour is suitable for baking cakes and biscuits, but Irish flour for the large-scale bakeries producing sliced pan would need to be mixed with flour from other countries like France and Germany.

“Biscuits, buns, cakes and baps – Irish flour can be used no problem. The only problem you have is when you go to the sliced pan.

“We won’t be able to do the sliced pan on its own without some French wheat or German wheat. It’s the very same in the UK. They still import French and some Canadian and North American wheat to produce that sliced plan.”

Andrew claims that he has had a huge amount of interest in the plan for the mill from bakeries and some supermarket chains.

Growing milling wheat

Growing milling wheat isn’t straightforward. Quality can be hard to achieve. Spring wheat has also traditionally been a better fit for milling wheat. This crop can often have a late harvest which affects quality as wheat may begin to sprout in damp weather.

“We’ve grown milling wheat for the last couple of years.

“We grew spring wheat and winter wheat. The varieties are out there. We grew KWS Chilham last year. That was very good. It was between 12.8% and 13.2% protein.”

That wheat has been tested in laboratories here in Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. According to Andrew, the mix for flour for sliced plan could contain 25% Irish wheat, while the flour for baking cakes, biscuits and baking at home could be produced from Irish wheat.

However, he emphasised that up-to-date Irish research is needed on milling wheat.

Commenting on last year’s protein and Hagberg falling numbers he added that, with a bit of work, quality standards can become easier to achieve. He called on the Department of Agriculture and Teagasc to put a focus on this research and help farmers to grow more premium crops.

“If we had malting barley and milling wheat it would give farmers better options,” he commented.

This needs a bit of work, but no one’s going to do anything because there’s no mill or no outlook for it.

So where will the wheat for the flour come from?

If the mill gets up and running it will need 300t of wheat per day and Andrew stated that every 1t of wheat will produce 780kg of pure flour in the mill.

So over 100,000t of wheat will be needed to supply the mill to capacity, equating to about 15,000ha of wheat – assuming it all passes the quality standards.

In 2019, 3,784ha of spring wheat were grown in Ireland. This figure was approximately 3,500ha in 2018 and 6,800ha in 2017.

“We looked at all the different options and it’s not feasible to build a small mill. You still have to build the intake store and the flour store. The most economic flour mill that you can build today has a capacity of 300t/day.”

Andrew knows the acreage will have to be built up over time, but is confident that he will get the growers.

“We’re building this in Wexford; in the sunny south-east. If milling wheat can be grown it’ll be grown here in Wexford. In Wexford alone we have Kellys, Ryans, Irish Pride which is Pat the Bakers, Staffords [bakeries].”

Of course price is going to be what entices farmers to grow the crop. Premium grains are essential to Irish tillage farms and the more markets for these grains the better. How this premium will be calculated is as yet unknown.

What next?

Andrew is a tillage farmer, but also has a grain storage facility which he is currently expanding by 15,000t. He dries and stores a lot of grain.

Once the next Government has been formed Andrew’s next step will be to knock on the door again.