Northeastern bakers' views on organic and regeneratively certified flours

Abstract

There is a continued interest in reviving small and midsize grain mills that allow for more differenti­ated flour offerings, including mills with environ­mental benefits. This study seeks to assess North­eastern bakers’ and distributors’ views on U.S. Department of Agriculture–certified organic flour and potential demand for flour with the Regenera­tive Organic certification by conducting a survey of bakers and distributors. Results provide evidence that, for multiple reasons, many bakers use both conventional and certified organic flours despite the fact that they cannot call the final product organic and, if budgets allowed, would increase organic flour purchases. Bakers and distributors believe customers do not understand the impor­tance of the organic certification, that customers need to be educated on the Regenerative Organic Certified label, and that bakers would switch to flour with a Regenerative Organic certification if quality and price were comparable to organic.

Keywords

• conventional flour
• organic flour
• local agriculture
• regional grain
• regenerative organic certification