A perspective on nutritional privilege Clifford Spencer, , Goodwill Ambassador, NEPAD and Chairman, Milling4Life The chilly UK weather in February ensures that my Scottish ancestry demands porridge made from nutritious oats for my breakfast. This feat of nature in the production of the oats and its conversion into porridge provides nutritious and long lasting daily sustenance, as well as gut health that I have come to take for granted from early childhood. My now regular visits to developing countries are a constant reminder that mine is a privileged existence and diet. One that vast areas of the planet and its peoples can only dream of, too often not only adults but vulnerable young children going without as they set out on their daily journey to survive and hopefully prosper. Without food for their children many developing country schools attract very few attendees and education suffers, along with the development of whole countries and their vital economies. That situation comes as a stark reminder to the importance of the milling industry, and that production and making available on a daily basis a suite of nutritious milling products is not only a matter of satisfying taste but in many parts of the world the basis of life itself as well as that of national development. The driving force of Milling4Life This is the fundamental driver and basis of ‘Milling4Life’, for this reason we will be looking closely at areas such as developing milling skills, equipment and in-country facilities for a wider range of crops than that which are currently covered. In particular those that form the basis of agricultural production in many developing countries but currently struggle to function compared to those with developed nutritious and efficient food chains. In a few days’ time I will set off on a journey to the United States, and during my stay I will witness the very latest and best of milling technology in the state of Kansas, who produce the most economic wheat as a farm crop in the world. How do I know that? Well I spent most of my farming career attempting to match the production costs of Kansas’s wheat regularly achieved by its expert farmers, and frustratingly found it more than difficult to achieve! In fact - being brutally honest, failing to achieve that target in often inclement and unsuitable UK weather and soils for this purpose really became the norm. However in the early 70’s my UK family farm did produce the Supreme Championship winning sample of milling wheat at the World Fair in Toronto, Canada. Being a typical farmer, I talked about this constantly with anyone who’d care to listen (and still do now over 40 years later) whilst conveniently forgetting virtually all of the other wheat production that never reached those heights. This is same situation as our national football team, but that is another story! 22 | February 2017 - Milling and Grain
The good news for Milling4Life is that the climate and soils in many developing countries are more than up to the task and better still well adapted. Indigenous cereal crops exist in these countries that are also suitable for milling and are already widely grown. The challenge comes in putting these countries, crop and their milling industries through the earnest development that so readily produces items such as my top class breakfast cereal, which I enjoy on a daily quality and supply always guaranteed basis. The need for development What further spurs this serious need of such developments is, it has now been established beyond doubt, that the first 1000 days of a human beings life in terms of dietary intake affects lifetime physical and mental development and the capacity to achieve a quality of health and life to which we all aspire. Biological systems like our overwhelmingly important system start to stutter nearly as soon as quality of nutrition drops. The challenge in all of this area of work, is that we have had a couple of thousand years to develop crops like wheat and the associated milling processes and products, but that time scale is not now available for say millet and other such crops, and the welfare of the people these crops and products should feed. On the plus side, plant breeding has made enormous strides in recent years. Full crop genetic maps, specialised crossing and hybridising techniques are all fully available and processing technology continually improves. It is some 30 years since I grew the first hybrid wheat in the UK, in which case utilised a chemical hybridising agent (CHA) to ensure that the rabbi cross delivered its magic. So you will be unsurprised to hear that I have absolute faith in the scientists needed for this job. It is just the politicians and nation efforts in both developed and developing countries that need aligning, not the easiest of jobs but nonetheless achievable. Ingredients of success So the Milling4Life team needs political deftness and shrewdness, the technical expertise available of the crop breeders and farmer producers and the multiple skills of the milling industry, all-working in harmony to achieve its worthy targets. Oh and the magic ingredient- the hearts, minds and support of the great industry that regularly reads this, the longest standing publication on the planet for the milling industry. So to the Milling and Grain readers, my fellow trustees and I are very much looking forward to the opportunity to meet some of you in the coming months and years, and discussing these worthy objectives and hopefully gaining your support in achieving the aims of this most worthy cause to benefit of so many human lives.