Spelt - a pilot crop to strengthen co-operation between farmers, food processors, distributors and consumers

Summary

In the beginning of the 1990's, spelt cultivation in Finland was rather unknown. First cultivation experiments at the organic research farm of MTT/Agricultural Engineering Research (Vakola) were done in co-operation with some farmers since 1993. Many farmers showed interest in cultivating spelt because of curiosity about crops suitable for organic farming, competition leadership by marketing new niche products, and consumers demand for healthy and high quality food produced pro-environmentally. Constraints like lack of certified organic seeds, missing national legislation for propagation of spelt seeds, unsuitable drilling machines, inappropriate dehusking machinery, and lack of marketing infrastructure are compensated by a wide product range made of spelt: whole grains, flours, break flour, flakes, semolina, and green kernel (made of yellow ripe spelt dried with smoke of beech wood). Spelt husk is used to fill mattresses and cushions or as litter.
Cultivation of spelt and marketing of spelt products in Finland showed that this versatile cereal created new initiatives amongst farmers, processors, traders, and consumers. Consequently, farmers, millers and retailers established processing sites, arranged local marketing of spelt products in healthy food shops, schools, and kindergartens, participated in exhibitions and organised seminars. The "new" crop also rises questions concerning legislation, research, nutrition, and health. There is a strong need for research in nutritional and allergy issues.
The most important challenge for the future will be to find new ways learning co-operation between all members the food chain. This concerns the development of common strategies for production, processing, marketing, and research in the sense of brotherliness in economic life. Spelt offers ideal opportunity to train the required faculty and social capacity of farmers, processors, traders, and consumers.