The main challenge to organic farmers, millers and bakeries is to fulfill consumer expectations of providing healthy and safe products without impairing yield. The quality of organic grain can be modified by agronomic conditions such as crop management, crop rotation and soil fertility, but the post-harvest handling of grain and the flour processing are also key factors in producing bread of high nutritional value without contaminants. This project focuses on the optimization of agronomic practices and grain fractionation processes in order to obtain wheat and flour with improved nutritional value, health and sensory characteristics. The overall objective of this project is to identify agronomical and food processing technologies that enhance the baking quality and the nutritional value of organic wheat and reduce mycotoxin contamination. Specific objectives are to: (1) Evaluate the current practices for organic grain wheat production and flour-processing in Europe. (2) Improve crop management strategies to enable bread-quality wheat to be produced on organic farms with and without livestock. (3) Develop optimal post-harvest treatment to prevent mycotoxin contamination and enhance bread making quality and nutritional value. (4) To generalise results from experiments in order to enhance farm management strategies in various climates and soil types represented in Europe. The envisaged multidisciplinary consortium covers all aspects from the field production of organic wheat to the milling process and the end user products flours and bread. Improved field management systems for grain growers will be developed with optimized nutrient utilization ensuring a more reliable production of quality bread wheat. The project will elucidate the potential for organic wheat production both in livestock systems and in systems based on green manures only. The interactions between on the one side agronomic factors, milling techniques and health (e.g. the presence of mycotoxins) and on the other the nutritive value and bread quality will be investigated. The principles for organic cropping and food processing will be in focus and the project will maintain communication with stakeholders to ensure that the results of the project address the needs and are in line with the current development in the organic wheat-flour chain. The research results will benefit the competitiveness of European organic agriculture and related food industries.
