One of Fife’s most successful arable businesses is hosting a micro-scale experiment in growing heritage grains.
As state-of-the-art combines drone across Ardross farm’s cereal fields on the edge of the North Sea, Bosse Dahlgren carefully scythes seven tiny plots containing rare varieties of ancient grains, including Hebridean and Shetland oats, bere barley and rye from the island of Luing.
The aim is to multiply the seed, grown in the farm’s walled garden, to produce larger trial plots next year, but in the meantime loaves, flatbreads and bannocks will be made from each variety and the results shared with the farm.
Farmer Claire Pollock, whose main job this week is monitoring grain driers, said the project had the potential to add to the Ardross farm shop diversification.
“When we opened the shop 15 yrs ago it was about adding value to the farm,” she said.
“Bosse’s wife, Wendy Barrie, is a chef who knows about cooking and flavour, and we’re looking at possible new lines of flours and breads and other produce for the shop,”
Wendy Barrie said the varieties might not yield as well as modern crops, but could compensate for that by being more nutrient dense and flavoursome.
“They also have the potential to be successful in our increasibngly erratic climate,” she said.
Bosse, who is from Sweden and is passionate about small-scale agriculture, said summer was not complete without having a scythe in his hand.