A recipe usually starts with the flour you want.

We start with a question.

What can grow well here while improving the health and resilience of this particular piece of land?

We then take what the harvest gives us. Our millers turn it into flour and we create our recipes. Instead of asking the soil to fit our bread, we make our bread work with the soil.

SOIL → FARMER → GRAIN → MILLER → BAKER → BREAD → YOU

So what does soil positive actually mean?

Soil Positive™ is a registered standard that measures whether soil health on participating farms is improving.

It is built around a simple idea:

Improvement, not perfection.

No two farms begin in the same place. Their soil, weather, history and landscape are different. So we don't ask whose soil is 'best'. We ask whether the soil on each participating farm is getting better from where it started. And we measure that progress over time.

The standard has been developed through years of work between farmers, millers, procurement teams and bakers.

The evidence is independently verified by third parties such as Regenified not by us.

Here's the science.

We don't want Soil Positive™ to be a badge you simply have to believe. We want to be able to show the evidence. Each participating farm measures five areas of its soil:

  • Carbon

    How carbon within the soil changes over time.

  • STRUCTURE 

    The physical condition of the soil, including how effectively it holds and moves water and air.

  • BIOLOGY 

    The living organisms and biological processes that help soil function.

  • BIODIVERSITY

    The diversity of life supported by the soil and farm.

  • CHEMISTRY

    The chemical condition of the soil, including nutrients and contaminants.

Different farms can use accredited tests appropriate to their own land, but all five areas must be measured. The results are compared with that farm's own starting point and independently verified.

Farm by farm. Harvest by harvest.

This year's flour isn't last year's flour. That's the point.

When you start with the land rather than a rigid product of specification, nature introduces variation. Different farms. Different weather. Different harvests. Different flour. That means everybody has to respond.

  • The farmer grows

    What suits this field, this soil and this season?

  • The Miller Responds

    How does this harvest need to be milled and blended?

  • The Baker Learns

    Does the flour need more water? A different fermentation? Does the dough behave differently?

Soil Positive™ asks us to work with that variation rather than pretend it isn't there. 

We bake what good farming gives us. 

Where you'll find Soil Positive today.

Not all our flour is Soil Positive™. And not every GAIL's product is Soil Positive™.

We think it's important to say it plainly.

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If a product isn't listed here, we don't currently describe it as Soil Positive. Trust us, we’re working on it.

Explore Soil Positive breads here.

We're showing you the work while we're doing it. 

Soil Positive™ has been years in the making. But it isn't finished.

More farms are joining. More flour is moving into the standard. And more products will follow. Today, Soil Positive begins with flour. Over time, we hope it can reach further. 

This isn't a finished system. It's work we're making visible. 

  • What we can prove today

    We can measure whether soil on participating farms is improving. 

    We can trace qualifying flour back through the supply chain. 

    And the evidence is independently verified. 

  • The questions we're chasing

    We believe healthy living soils can support stronger, more resilient plants. 

    We're exploring what that might mean for the nutritional quality of grain. But that science is still developing. 

  • When we can prove more, we'll say more

    For now, soil improvement is what we measure.

Your Soil Positive Questions Answered

What does Soil Positive mean?

Soil Positive is an independently verified standard that measures whether soil health on participating farms is improving against each farm's own starting point. 

It tracks five areas of soil health: carbon, structure, biology, biodiversity and chemistry. 

How is Soil Positive different to organic or regenerative? Why not use a trademark already in existence?

Soil Positive is not a replacement for any other farming system. It is our attempt to unequivocally prove that those systems are making a positive impact.  

The farmers who supply us with their ingredients operate within multiple systems including organic, regenerative, bio-dynamic and everything in-between. Soil Positive does not replace or divert focus away from any of them. We at GAIL’s are unanimously in favour of any farming practice that seeks to better our soils, and through them our food and see our role in the supply chain as helping to provide the evidence. Put simply, Soil Positive is a system-agnostic data-led programme capable of demonstrating from soil to flour that positive farming methods are having an effect. 

What is Soil Health?

Soil health describes how effectively soil functions as a living system. 

Its physical structure, chemistry and biology interact to influence water, nutrient availability, plant growth and biological activity. 

Why is soil health important?

Healthy functioning soil provides the physical structure, water, nutrients and biological activity that plants need to grow. 

For us, that's where the story of bread begins. 

What does Soil Positive measure?

Soil Positive measures five areas of soil health: 

Carbon - how carbon within the soil changes over time. 

Structure - the physical condition of the soil, including how effectively it can hold and move water and air. 

Biology - the living organisms and biological processes that help soil function. 

Biodiversity - the diversity of life supported by the soil and farm. 

Chemistry - the chemical condition of the soil, including nutrients and contaminants. 

Progress is measured against each farm's own starting point and over time. 

How is Soil Positive independently verified?

Participating farms undertake accredited testing across the areas required by the
Soil Positive standard. 

The results are independently verified by third-parties such as Regenified, rather than assessed solely by us or the farmer.

Measured by someone other than us.

Why does Soil Positive measure each farm against itself?

No two farms start in the same place. 

Different soils, climates, landscapes and farming histories mean it doesn't make sense to simply declare one farm's soil “better” than another. 

Instead, Soil Positive asks a different question: is the soil on this farm improving from where it started? 

That's why we measure progress farm by farm and over time. 

Does Soil Positive mean healthier bread?

Soil Positive is a soil-health standard, not a nutritional or human-health certification. 

We believe healthy living soils can support stronger, more resilient plants, and we're exploring what that might mean for the nutritional quality of grain. 

But the science is still developing. 

Today, soil improvement is what we can measure and verify. When we can prove more, we'll say more. 

Is all GAIL's bread Soil Positive?

No. We're progressively moving our flour supply to the Soil Positive standard, but it doesn't currently apply to every GAIL's product. We’re working closely with our farmers and our millers to see how we can move more of the flour available to us to buy into the Soil Positive framework. 

See our current Soil Positive product list above for the definitive list of products that qualify today. 

We're not presenting a finished system. We're showing you the work while we're doing it. 

Which GAIL's products are Soil Positive?

Only products made with qualifying flour procured under the Soil Positive standard are described by us as Soil Positive™. 

You can find the current, definitive list of
Soil Positive products at the top of this page. 

If a product isn't listed there, we don't currently describe it as Soil Positive. 

Does Soil Positive only apply to flour?

Today, Soil Positive begins with flour. 

Our longer-term ambition is for the standard to reach further into the ingredients we buy. 

We're not there yet. Not all of our flour currently meets the Soil Positive standard, and not every GAIL's product is currently Soil Positive. 

Who owns Soil Positive?

Soil Positive is a registered standard owned by Bread Holdings Inc, the parent company of GAIL's and The Bread Factory. 

It has been developed with the involvement and learning of farmers, millers and bakers, with independent verification built into the standard. 

Our intention is that this will become a standard which other food-producing businesses who meet the criteria can use. For now, we’re testing the system with our own producer network.

Join the Soil Positive Movement

See Soil Positive Breads