Our World Soil Day Challenge
We Ask Food Producers To Adopt Regen Farming Practices Before World Soil Day
The eighth-generation miller urges food producers to support British regenerative farmers proving it’s possible to source 100% regeneratively grown grain at scale, without an unjustified premium to the consumer.
As British farming faces rising input costs and extreme weather, ahead of World Soil Day, Matthews Cotswold Flour is calling on food producers to back the one thing that can secure our future: healthy soil.
Founded over 100 years ago and still family-run today, Matthews Cotswold Flour has spent the last six years working hand-in-hand with local farms through its Cotswold Grain Partnership, helping farmers grow grains that bring life back to the soil and flavour back to the loaf with farming methods that rebuild soil health, boost biodiversity, and restore balance to our food system.
“Healthy soil is where every great loaf begins,” says Bertie Matthews, eighth-generation miller and Managing Director of Matthews Cotswold Flour.
“Our regenerative journey started back in 2019 when we sat down with local farmers to ask: how do we grow grain that’s good for the land, the farmer, and the baker? Since then, we’ve developed our own audit process and standards that help farms cut chemical inputs, build soil fertility, and protect rivers from pollution.”
The Matthews approach to regenerative farming focuses on five key goals:
- Rebuilding soil fertility
- Storing carbon in healthy soils
- Boosting biodiversity
- Improving water retention and filtration
- Strengthening food security
“For too long, we’ve treated soil as a resource to use up, not one to look after,” adds Bertie. “We need to change that. Regeneration is about more than sustainability, it’s about leaving the land better than we found it. If we want great British bread and great British farming in the future, we’ve got to look after the soil today.”
Through the Cotswold Grain Partnership, the mill pays a premium to British farmers who commit to regenerative methods, helping them invest in healthier rotations, cover crops, and reduced tillage systems.
The goal is ambitious but clear: by 2030, Matthews Cotswold Flour aims for over 100,000 acres of British farmland to be under direct regenerative management and for all Matthews flours to be made entirely from regeneratively grown grain.
Already, several Matthews flours are 100% regeneratively sourced, and more are being added each year supplying both artisan bakers and major food producers who want to make a real difference at scale affordably with the ingredients they choose.
“We’re proud to see more of our customers from local bakeries to some of the UK’s biggest names choosing regenerative flour,” says Bertie. “It’s proof that good food and good farming can go hand in hand. Ahead of World Soil Day, we’re asking others in the industry to join us because every loaf, every biscuit, every pasta shape starts with the soil beneath our feet.”
So much of our national story begins in the soil,” says Bertie. “This World Soil Day, we’re asking everyone in food to look down because the future of British baking starts beneath our feet.