Acres in a Loaf of Bread

Common Grain Alliance ^ | 2020 | Heather Coiner

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Last month I attended a meeting of the Virginia Grain Producer’s Association to learn more about how the vast majority of grain is produced. I had the pleasure of being accompanied by three other CGA members, and, inevitably, the topic of scale came up. The VGPA farmers think in thousands of acres; CGA producers may be working with 100 or less. One of the challenges of building up a regional food system of any sort is balancing supply with demand. So the calculators came out and numbers were crunched, and it made me realize I don’t have a good handle on how many buyers are needed to support the farmers we already have in our network, let alone new farmers. Plus, purely selfishly, I’ve always wanted to figure out how many acres of grain is required to support my little bakery.

There are a few factors that play into this calculation. First, how many bushels per acre will a farmer harvest? This depends on the type of grain, the farmer’s skill, growing practices, and Mother Nature. If we assume we are talking about wheat that is grown sustainably in an average year in the Mid-Atlantic, 40 bushels per acre seems to be a reasonable place to start. (The U.S. average in 2021 was around 52 bushels per acre). Second, there are harvest and cleaning losses. I have no idea how much is lost (which means you can look for a future post on this topic!) but I’ll be conservative and say 10% is lost. Third, the standard weight of a bushel of wheat is 60 pounds, or 27 kg.

At the mill, the grade of flour determines how many kg of flour you get from each kg of grain. If you have an excellent mill, you can get close to 100% conversion of grain to flour, called “extraction” in the trade. If you sift out some of the larger particles for a finer grade flour, you have losses. 80% extraction is common in a lot of bakeries, including mine. At this point, we can figure out how many pounds of flour a farmer can expect per acre.

40 bu/acre x 60 lb/bu x 0.9 harvest yield x 0.8 extraction = about 1,700 pounds flour

This goes up to about 2,100 pounds if the flour is not sifted (that is, there are no milling losses).

Additional factors at the bakery are the amount of flour in a loaf of bread, and the number of loaves baked in a year. At my bakery, most loaves use about 400 g of flour, or 0.9 pounds. We are tiny, and only operate 10 months (or 43 weeks) out of the year. But let’s say we have a great year and make 300 loaves per week during that time. My bakery then uses:

300 loaves/ wk x 43 weeks x 0.9 lb/loaf = 11,600 lb flour.

That means about 6.7 acres of wheat (11,600 lb flour / 1,700 lb flour/acre) will support my bakery for a year.

I am not sure what I was expecting, but seeing this tiny amount of land supporting a bakery that employs three full-time people triggers all kinds of thoughts and feelings. But one obvious implication is that the CGA network can absorb a lot more buyers. One hundred acres of wheat can produce 3700 loaves of bread a week. Because our farmers use sustainable practices, they only grow wheat once every three years, so with good soil health practices, you would need three 100 acre farms to produce that much. But still. That’s a lot of bread.

How many acres of grain will support your baking or processing activities?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I've often wondered about our food supply and where it comes from. My curiosity is increasing with all the absolutely insane and nonsensical WEF / Commie attacks on our farms and farmers around the world in the name of the fictitious "Manmade Global Warming." So far, these people are working to take farms out of production starting in the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada to supposedly reduce nitrogen "pollution," but you know such bad ideas will spread farther. Sri Lanka tried their horrible ideas with terrible results and the toppling of the government. Good for the Sri Lankan people!

I started baking sourdough bread a few months ago. My wife asked if my fermented pizza dough making experience this summer could be applied to bread, so I dove in. I've been enjoying sourdough since I moved to the San Fran Bay Area in 1973. In New York and Missouri back in the 50s to 1973, I'd never even HEARD of sourdough. Mom would buy Wonder Bread for sandwiches when I was a kid and I thought that was bread. I sure learned otherwise when I got to SF and learned about sourdough (as well as about Anchor Steam craft beer). So, naturally, my attention turned to sourdough bread.

Being an engineer, I naturally wondered "how much land does it take to produce our food?" I found the above article I posted answers all my questions. Using the information in the article, I calculated the area required to produce a one pound one loaf of artisan sourdough bread. Turns out it takes 26 square feet of land (about 5 ft x 5 ft) to produce that loaf

I was surprised to learn that such a small plot of land can make a loaf of bread. Of course, you have to grow wheat on that land for a full year to produce the flour for that single loaf.

I'm making bread for my wife and I about once a week, so I need about 1,400 square feet of land to grow that amount of wheat to produce the flour I am using (slightly less than the floor area of our 1,650 sq ft ranch house). That's 0.03 acres of land to produce bread for our two-person family for a year.

Note that smaller "sustainable and organic" farms rotate crops (unlike Big Ag massive farms), so the land only grows wheat every two or three years.

I've discovered a bunch of small flour mills here in the west buying wheat from such farms for their flour: Hayden Flour Mills, Central Milling, Cairnspring Mills, Palouse Brand, Bluebird Grain Farms, Giusto's, Ethos Stone Mill, and Grist & Toll. So far, I've bought flour from Hayden and Cairnspring so far and have been real happy with the results. Our local natural foods store (called "The Flour Mill" of all things) carries a generic "strong" (i.e., high protein) bread flour that I like, too.

[marktwain]

You only consume 1 loaf of bread a week for your entire family?

Many people consume a 1 lb loaf of bread a day per person. For a "standard" two adult, two child family, that would be 4x7x52, about 25 times as much wheat as you consume.

[AnglePark]

Interesting article — thanks!

I’ve been wondering (for a while now) how much acreage would be needed to produce an equivalent amount of plant-based meat that one beef cow provides.

[PeterPrinciple]

That’s 0.03 acres of land to produce bread for our two-person family for a year.

---

multiply by number of people in the world divided by two.

Now what number do you get?

Grains are used for MUCH MORE than making bread. Looking at one small part of a larger system is what liberals do.

The points may be valid, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The kids are gone, so it’s just my wife and me. We have a fair amount of toast and sandwiches, but a one-pound loaf seems to last five to seven days.

Yes, I know lots of families, especially with young kids and teens, that go through a pound loaf every day. Or more.

[Jane Long]

No grains, here.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“doesn’t tell the whole story”

Nor did I intend it to do that. I was just curious how much land needed to make a loaf of bread. I didn’t set out to cure world hunger.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Me, too. I think it takes a lot more land and water to make that fake meat. I saw an article on the inputs needed to make fake meat recently and it was huge (no surprise).

[jigsaw]

Very Interesting. Thanks for posting. :-)

[PGR88]

The USA is different from many other countries I have visited. In most countries, population density is high and agricultural land is relatively scarce. Farms are small and there are very strict rules about maintenance of agricultural land and limiting development.

The USA on the other hand, has never had a farmland “shortage.” Even as the country doubled in population over the last 60 years, farmers simply brought more land (in the midwest and plains mostly) into production and of course, employed technology to increase yields. The USA is still a large grain exporter.

For comparison sake, look at the USA, vs. places like China, India or even France

The economics of agriculture production always then defaulted to the lowest-cost producers on Megafarms in the midwest. Its good to smaller scale farms, particularly in the East, becoming popular and economical.

Might we ever face an agriculture land shortage in the USA?

[DuncanWaring]

As the Oglala aquifer starts running dry, there’s going to be an awful lot of Great Plains farm acreage going out of production.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Interesting small Farm article on raising grain.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

In my younger years, I worked in about 22 different countries (including 7 months in China in the mid 70s) and, as you say, the majority of farms around the world are very small. I was amazed to see how every small plot of land was terraced in China to grow food.

We’ll face the land shortage when the Chinese and Gates finish buying it all up!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Where is that, Jane?

[dadfly]

interesting. thx for the post.

[Jane Long]

We eat no grains.

Gave them all up, about a year ago.

[desertsolitaire]

Does anyone add anti spoilage chemicals to their bread loaf recipes so they resist molding before being eaten?

[outofsalt]

“How much grain does it take to make a gallon of whiskey?”
https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+much+grain+does+it+take+to+make+a+gallon+of+whiskey&form=ANNTH1&refig=6bc07103ece14519ae5e7af0ef30d14f&pc=HCTS

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Does anyone add anti spoilage chemicals to their bread loaf recipes so they resist molding before being eaten?”

I keep fresh bread in the fridge for a longer shelf-life, or I freeze it. The reason FOR homemade bread is to NOT have any extra chemicals in it, IMHO.

The Best Way to Store Bread

The best thing you can do to truly prolong the life of your bread is to keep it in the freezer. Slicing it first (or cutting it into big chunks) allows you to remove portions as necessary so you don’t run into the same problem of handling a whole loaf of bread.

In this case, you can store your bread in plastic. Use either freezer bags or sheets of plastic wrap to keep away ice crystals, prevent freezer burn, and get a tight seal. Remove the plastic when defrosting, so the moisture doesn’t leach onto your bread, or stick it directly in an oven or toaster, for warm, fragrant bread that looks and tastes as good as new.

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-store-bread/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Good article!

I have beef covered (we grow our own. ‘Chuck’ will be on the hoof until this coming March.) Our neighbor does pork, so we’re getting 1/2 a hog this month. I’ll have chickens again by Spring (hopefully!) and I just started growing drying beans this year - not sure why I didn’t before!

I would LOVE to find a local outlet for flour, but I’m still looking. I don’t bake as much as I used to (carbs!) but I still throw a loaf from time to time. This is the best bread recipe that I make:

https://pinchofyum.com/no-knead-bread#tasty-recipes-42994-jump-target

And these drop biscuits are always a hit:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229366/quick-cheddar-garlic-biscuits/

Also, Popovers are a yummy treat, though you need a Popover Pan. HALF the carbs of the Biscuits!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228641/chef-johns-popovers/