BioRegional MiniMills, Enterprise Awards

About the award

In June 2004, BioRegional MiniMills won a HGCA (Home Grown Cereals Association) Enterprise Award.

HGCA Enterprise Awards have helped over 160 businesses of all sizes with exciting initiatives, both in the UK and aboard, since their launch in 1995. The Awards are designed to stimulate new demand for cereals (wheat, barley, oats, rye) and oilseeds by exploring unique and diverse applications for these crops.

HGCA funding went towards the development of a premium quality BioRegional MiniMills straw pulp product, and research into the mill energy recovery systems, including the removal of harmful silica which can result in the build-up of glassy deposits.

BioRegional MiniMills estimate that straw could replace up to 20 per cent of the imported high grade wood pulp currently used by the paper industry, resulting in a market for 360,000 tonnes of straw pulp, requiring 900,000 tonnes of straw worth some £27 million to UK growers.

Julian Gibbons, Chairman of HGCA’s Market Development Committee said: “Straw is increasingly being seen not as a by-product of grain production, but as a valuable resource in its own right. This project is particularly interesting as it introduces the prospect of a whole new market for home-grown straw.”

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