The Spelt Project 1, July 2014 | Page 12

THE SCALE-UP My partner Geoff and I came away from this meeting at Yanget stunned. The Spelt Project had gone from garden to farm scale within the space of a few hours. The seed requirements had just jumped from 10kgs to half a tonne, and it occurred to me I might have to down garden implements and learn how to drive a tractor. Bill stills thinks in terms of the old wheat sacks which weighed 180 pounds, or roughly 85kgs. Half a tonne becomes imaginable if you think of it in terms of six or seven wheat sacks. I rang up my seed source and got the good news that he had enjoyed a spectacularly successful growing season and could consider selling me half a tonne of seed. The scale-up of tools led naturally to Geoff and I buying a tractor as our contribution to the whole Yanget growing program and as a … hell, when it comes down to it, who doesn’t want to buy a tractor? Thus we strayed like lambs into the world of farming. Bill Kerr 10 Bill and Geoff inspect the International 786