Our Philosophy and Aims

Shipton Mill is defined not just by what it does and how it does it but also by its relationships with the rest of the world. For many companies, relationships are solely based on trading, driven by the economic priorities of the supplier to maximise profit and the customer to minimise cost.

It is also the provenance of products that is important as much as the production method.

At Shipton Mill we source as much as possible from local farms. We use sea borne transport for our imports – widely recognised to be the least damaging mode of distribution.  We are investigating the development of a small hydro electric power unit to run off the waterwheel.  We have installed a system to return excess heat from the milling process back into the offices to provide space heating in winter and hot water all the year round.

“We need for instance, to remember that the traditional ways of doing things may not always be the most “efficient”, but they may produce the finest end product and be in the greatest harmony with nature. The making of quality cheeses simply cannot be rushed. Good beef must be hung for weeks, not a few days. Good bread needs time to rise…. That’s what we need – slower food, not faster. We are already seriously out of time with the rhythms of Nature and are beginning to pay for the discord this creates…..

A speech by the Prince of Wales for The Taste of The West Food and Drink Awards Ceremony – Highgrove – Friday 16th September 2005.

Respect for the natural system and a desire to work in combination with it is the underlying philosophy of modern organic farming.  More important still is the need to have a sensitive approach to life and ones own impact on the environment and immediate surroundings.

Shipton Mill actively promotes the cultivation of rare and old varieties of wheat.  This is not a commercial decision as the returns are in fact far too small.  It is the need to preserve and retain varieties that are not readily available and to promote the genetic and visual diversity that such crops and their sympathetic farming methods engender.

It is now recognised that growing crops of this sort in this way also has a positive effect on nutrition.  Simply by being less intensivlely farmed, the plants have larger more robust root systems, are more drought resistant, and have greater micro nutrient and mineral content as there are less plants per square meter and therefore less competition for available resources.  This is also not to mention the reduced requirement for extra fertilisers and the use of weed killers etc that are energy inefficient and environmentally damaging.

Shipton Mill wants to forge new links with the world which are inclusive of a broader range of values and relationships. These values and what they are, are not always easy to lay down in black and white but encompass the following:

1. Value to the home baker outside of the best recipe and the lowest price
2. Value to the Artisan baker beyond price and innovation
3. Value of having dynamic partners who lead in areas such as education, community links and personal/family links
4. Relationship with our food, the environment it comes from and how added value can be returned to sustain that environment 
5. Ethical trading relationships with real benefits to participating parties