This is John Turner from Turner’s of Bytham, an organic grower and all round lovely man who does his best to take care of the land that he and his family have been farming for four generations.
The farm is small by contemporary standards, and they give the fields rest years to recover fertility between the oat crops. 12 hectares of the farm are managed purely to improve the environment for wildlife, where is a particular focus on bumblebees, butterflies, day moths, and hares (which are an emblem of their farm)
Float came about due to a conversation with Hodmedods (organic grains and pulse pioneers). They had been working with John Turner to grow and find an avenue for a traditional variety of oat called the naked oat (Avena nuda), which is not the same as the one you make your porridge from.
What we found is that naked oats were great for making oatmilk! They have a higher natural oil content, which is why floatmylk tastes particularly rich and creamy, like a whole milk. 😋
Naked oats are also a great crop for small scale sustainability, as they can be threshed and cleaned on the farm where they are grown, unlike normal oats which need to be sent off to large processors - so the farmer can retain more of the value too.