Meet One of Our Mills: Farmer Ground Flour
Each Bread Alone loaf starts well before the bakery, in the hands of the organic and often regenerative farmers that grow our grain, and the millers that process that grain into high-quality, nutrient dense flours. We partner with millers big and small, who represent different steps in the journey to build regional organic grain economies in North America. We believe this work is fundamental to the health of our soil and resilience of our food system.
Today we introduce Farmer Ground Flour (FGF), a miller in the Finger Lakes region of New York, with a mission to help revitalize the state’s grain economy.
In the early nineteenth century, the Hudson Valley was the breadbasket of New York City; the Genesee Valley of western New York was the center of wheat production in the Northeast. FGF rose from that history—from their desire to once again grow grain for the local flour mill. FGF supplies a portion of our flour – mainly whole wheat flour – in addition to smaller quantities of rye, einkorn and pastry flour over the years.
FGF was founded in 2009 by millers Greg Russo and Neal Johnston, and organic farmer Thor Oechsner. They mill flour from the organic grain that their farm partners grow locally. With a custom set of granite millstones, their milling process produces incredibly fresh and vibrant flour, which we use to bake robust bread full of character.
FGF is on a mission to build a sustainable grain economy in our state. To this end, they have set up their business to farm, mill, teach and listen—bringing folks across the value chain together, from farmer to miller to baker. FGF is committed to supporting the adoption of regenerative agriculture, which many of their farmers already practice, and works with growers to certify through the Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC). ROC recognizes additional earth-friendly practices above and beyond the USDA organic certification requirements.
Compared to many businesses in the commercial milling world, FGF is considered a “micro-mill.” Milling is a highly consolidated industry and the largest corporate mills produce more in one week than FGF can produce in one year. They take pride in knowing their farmers, seeing the grain in the field as it grows, and producing excellent stoneground flour batch by batch.
We believe that it’s important for businesses like Bread Alone to source across a diverse ecosystem of millers and farmers, so that our buying power supports organic millers at every stage of their business growth. This helps build a resilient grain economy, and allows us to purchase flour from mills that aren’t at the size and scale to support our full sourcing needs. We’re proud to partner with mission-driven entrepreneurs like FGF in the beginning decades of their journey.
