This is a part of the Food Justice series on The Landworkers' Radio.

The world is abundant in cultures and food traditions that centre around the farming, processing and cooking of grains.

The central role that grains play in our cultures and diets, makes it one of the most important and yet contentious food substances in the world. It feeds and nourishes our societies, bringing people together in community and celebration. Whilst in times of scarcity, price fluctuation and crises it is an attributing cause of war, conflict and famine.

The recent war on Ukraine has exposed the overwhelming concentration of the globalised food system, and our reliance on only a few varieties of grain. Here in the UK we import 130 million pounds worth of grain every year from Ukraine including wheat, maize, barley, and rice and we have been affected with rises in food prices and threats to the supply of food as well as gas for fertilizers and fuel. These impacts highlight just how much our food systems are unable to withstand the shocks of political conflict and war, and is highly vulnerable in the face of climate breakdown - so are we facing a grain crisis?

To understand more about the context of grain here in the UK, hosts Georgie Styles and Dee Butterly spoke with Kimberley Bell, founder of the UK Grain Lab and the Small Food Bakery in Nottingham which aims to demonstrate that small scale food manufacturing businesses have a crucial role to play in enabling transition to a more resilient, nourishing and equitable food system.