By Alistair Gale, UK Flour Millers
At 11:00 pm on 31 January 2020, the UK formally left the European Union. Just over three years later I joined UK Flour Millers, a new sector for me, after years in cement making, ports and shipping.
On joining the millers, I hadn’t expected to have so much interaction with European colleagues. And yet, less than 18 months later I found myself in Munich as part of the UK group at 2024 European Flour Millers Congress. We were the largest single country delegation in attendance.
While this dropped right into the scope of Rumsfeld’s Unknown Unknowns for me (well, unexpected at least), on reflection it makes total sense. Yes, a degree of alignment with European regulations remains important, but what I saw more was the cooperation and knowledge sharing between millers from different countries.
Why would there be a need and indeed a benefit, from this degree of cooperation?
Simply put, it is the issues in common, from climate change and geopolitical tensions impacting global wheat markets to developments in production technologies and securing the skills of millers of the future. And then the evolution of customer demand, with trends oftentimes leaping from nation to nation: whether the emergence of ‘cruffins’, sweet/savoury contrasts or texture smash-ups. All potentially leaning on millers’ expertise in making the perfect product.
Two main benefits flow from coming together and sharing with colleagues. Often, they have unearthed new solutions to problems about which you had not thought, the light bulb moment! Failing that, you have the reassurance in sparking collaboration on issues waiting for resolution.
So, passport in hand, I am set for a further knowledge sharing sojourn, joining colleagues from across the continent for this year’s European Flour Millers Congress in Marseille. There to enjoy a diverse agenda including grain and energy markets, flour milling in a war context in Ukraine and the latest technical developments.
Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
In our case, by standing on each other’s shoulders we can see further, and progress faster, to the benefit of us all.
