Mike Peters has spent over 45 years in the flour milling industry, beginning his career as an apprentice at Healings Flour Mills in Tewkesbury in 1979. He learned from the ‘brush and broom upwards,’ gaining experience across quality control, wheat intake, mill operations, packing, warehousing and distribution. He completed City & Guilds flour milling courses and NABIM Craft Skills Certificates, later becoming a Craft Skills Assessor. Peters has worked for Allied Mills, ADM Milling (as site manager at Corby) and Whitworth Bros Ltd, where he served as Managing Director from 2016 to 2024. He is now Milling Group Advisor at Whitworth Bros and President of UK Flour Millers.
You have over 45 years of experience in the flour milling industry, starting as an apprentice at Healings Flour Mills in Tewkesbury. What has kept you in the industry for more than four decades, and what advice would you give to young people considering a milling career today?
Firstly, our industry has great career opportunities supported with a comprehensive training programme, that was a great attraction for me when I started my apprenticeship, this has certainly helped and supported me over the years and has opened many development and progression opportunities. We also have great people that work in our industry who are always ready and happy to answer your questions or take you into the mill and show you the process.
For anyone thinking about starting a career in the milling industry there are a wealth of opportunities not only in milling, but technical, maintenance, distribution, hygiene, sales and back-office functions to name some examples. You can also take pride in knowing that you are producing an essential food ingredient supporting feeding the nation
UK Flour Millers represents 32 member organisations operating 51 flour mills across the UK and Ireland. What do you see as the association’s most important role in supporting the industry, particularly around training and skills development?
The association plays a broad role, advocating for the industry, representing millers to Government and addressing specific policy issues, for example topics covering energy and trade.
On training, we provide an essential service to members, a staircase for millers’ talent development as they progress through the industry. This runs from our Distance Learning Programme, which has over the years been accessed by millers in some 70 countries worldwide, to the Craft Skills syllabus that we are just in the process of modernising and the Advanced Milling Diploma, which helps leading millers bridge into wider management roles.
In recent years we have focused on modernising the provision of training and associated resources, with the development of online learning platforms. This is a process that continues, matching our provision to the learning styles of the next generation.
The proportion of UK wheat area planted with Group 1 varieties has fallen to its lowest level in ten years. What are the implications of this trend for UK flour millers, and what can be done to encourage more high-quality milling wheat production?
As an island nation there is great pressure from different land uses in the UK. Prioritising the most productive arable land for growing food is a key call we make on Government.
Over the last few years, we had seen a progressive decline in the area planted with wheat. Although the 2025 wheat area was nine percent higher than the very small 2024 area, it was still down 10 percent on the longer-term average It is an issue we continue to watch closely and raise with policymakers.
In terms of Group 1 milling wheat varieties, we were pleased to see several new ones added to the Recommended List in 2024 and 2025, after a significant time with no new varieties progressing. These have shown consistently good milling and baking quality alongside a strong package of agronomic features, making them attractive options for both growers and millers.
From end of 2026, UK millers will be required to fortify non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. How is the industry preparing for this change, and what lessons have been learned from the existing fortification of calcium and other micronutrients?
British wheat flour has been fortified since the war as a simple means to improve the nation’s health with provision of core vitamins.
We have been working with Defra on this for several years now on moves to add folic acid to the mandatory fortifications.
This was agreed in November 2024, with a deadline for all flour produced at scale to be fortified by the end of this year (2026). Operationally this was essentially simple, with the addition of a further item to the fortificant mix. At this point, the vast majority of millers are adding folic to their flours. Experience in other countries suggests that this step results in a significant reduction in the rate of neural tube defects in babies.
Looking ahead, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges for the UK flour milling industry – whether in technology adoption such as AI and digital grain passports, sustainability, or maintaining domestic wheat supply in the face of competing land uses?
As an industry, millers in the UK provide a valuable buffer to geopolitical insecurity, with the country essentially self-sufficient in terms of flour production. For the future we have opportunities in supply chain digitisation, with the prospect of a digital passport for the wheat we use coming closer to realisation. This carries a range of benefits, such as faster data flow along the supply chain and real time assurance checking. It sits alongside increasing adoption of AI in milling, from my own Company perspective (Whitworth Bros) the smart mill technology being used at our site in Whitley Bridge is a very good example and is industry leading and recognised as the most modern mill in the world.
Longer term responding to climate change is critical. Yes, we are increasing the energy efficiency of our mills, but this has to be allied to the development of varieties better able to cope with the extremes of weather that are becoming increasingly common.
