The European Grain Festival at Kalø had to quickly announce that everything was sold out.
Økologisk NuIn recent years, sourdough bakeries have been popping up all over the country, and interest in grains and kernels, which are highly suitable for human nutrition, has probably never been greater than right now. Therefore, Landsorten, which organizes the European Grain Festival, announced that it was already sold out several weeks ago. This means that Kalø Organic Agricultural School will be transformed into a hive of activity on June 25 and 26, as Danish and international researchers, bakers, grain producers, and a large number of grain enthusiasts participate in lectures, sourdough workshops, and explore the 200 plots with test productions of all kinds of grains. "The festival has become a huge attraction, and it helps to cement the Danish position in this field," says Emilie Hansted Berning, chairperson of the Landsorten association, which has supplied about 40 organic grain varieties for the test plots. As the project manager for the grain festival, she has put a lot of effort into preparing for this major event, whose main theme is to highlight the potential of the enormous genetic diversity found among old, local, and newer grain varieties for human consumption. International names on the program It has been seven years since the last international grain festival visited Denmark, and Landsorten is not surprised by the interest in basic food production based on grains, which has led them to limit participation to 350 on Thursday and 300 on Friday. There simply isn’t enough space at the agricultural school to accommodate more. "The success criterion for the festival has been to gather the most advanced knowledge about breeding grains for human consumption. We do this by bringing together the entire value chain—from producers and researchers to bakers and chefs who work with grains daily," says Emilie Hansted Berning, who also runs the North Funen farm mill Vild Hvede with Ingeborg Jespersen Pauls. As the project manager, she considers it a bit of a coup that the grain festival has managed to attract several international figures in grains, baking, and food culture. These include American researcher Andrew Ross, French farmer, miller, and baker Adrien Pelletier, and Swedish star baker Sébastien Boudet. "As a young grain enthusiast, it makes me very optimistic that there is such great interest in developing new grain varieties. It can help motivate many bakers and chefs who want to work with new grains," says Emilie Hansted Berning, who is actively involved in driving this development. This year, Vild Hvede has invested in three new grain silos and a new, larger mill at their farm in North Funen. This increases capacity, making it possible to mill up to 200 tons of grain annually. On the cultivation side, there is also growth, as Landsorten’s approximately 150 member companies, most of whom are farmers, are cultivating about 2,000 hectares with Landsorten’s own grain varieties this year. That’s 400 hectares more than the previous year. Emilie Hansted Berning is pleased with this development but regrets that many missed out on tickets to the festival. She offers a small consolation: "We are recording the lectures on video, and they will later be available in edited versions on YouTube."
In recent years, sourdough bakeries have been popping up all over the country, and the interest in grains and kernels, which are well-suited for human nutrition, has hardly been greater than right now. Therefore, Landsorten, which organizes the European Grain Festival, already announced everything sold out several weeks ago.
This means that Kalø Organic Agricultural School will be transformed into a bustling hive of activity on June 25th and 26th, as Danish and international researchers, bakers, grain producers, and a larger number of grain enthusiasts participate in lectures, sourdough workshops, and explore the 200 plots with test productions of all kinds of grains.
"The festival has become a huge attraction, and it helps to cement the Danish position in this field," says Emilie Hansted Berning, who is the chairperson of the association Landsorten, which has supplied about 40 organic grain varieties to the test plots.
As the project manager for the grain festival, she has put a lot of effort into preparing for this major event, whose main theme is to highlight the potential in the enormous genetic diversity found among old, local, and newer grain varieties for human consumption.
International names on the program
It has been seven years since the international grain festival last visited Denmark, and the interest in the basic food production based on grains does not surprise Landsorten, which has had to set a limit of 350 participants on Thursday and 300 on Friday. There simply isn't enough space to accommodate more at the agricultural school.
"The success criterion for the festival has been to gather the foremost knowledge about breeding grains for human consumption. We do this by bringing together the entire value chain from producers and researchers to bakers and chefs who work with grains daily," says Emilie Hansted Berning, who also runs the northern Funen farm mill Vild Hvede together with Ingeborg Jespersen Pauls.
As the project leader, she considers it a bit of a scoop that the grain festival has managed to attract a number of international names in grains, baking, and food culture. These include, among others, the American researcher Andrew Ross, the French farmer, miller, and baker Adrien Pelletier, and the Swedish star baker Sébastien Boudet.
"As a young grain enthusiast, it makes me very optimistic that there is such great interest in developing new grain varieties. It can help inspire many bakers and chefs who want to work with new grains," says Emilie Hansted Berning, who is herself involved in driving the development.
This year, Vild Hvede has invested in three new grain silos and a new, larger mill at the farm in Nordfyn. This increases capacity, making it possible to mill up to 200 tons of grains per year.
On the cultivation side, there is also growth, as Landsorten's approximately 150 company members, most of whom are farmers, are cultivating about 2,000 hectares with Landsorten's own grain varieties this year. That is 400 hectares more than the previous year.
This development pleases Emilie Hansted Berning, who, on the other hand, regrets that many missed out on tickets to the festival, but she has a small consolation for them:
"We are recording the lectures on video, and they will later be available in edited versions on YouTube."