If we want local food systems to thrive, every link in the chain must be nurtured: seeds must be saved, farmers must earn a fair price, processors must adapt their methods—and consumers must be able to afford to buy the final product. Crafting a story and connecting people are centrally important to successfully cultivating biodiversity, as Belgian farmer Tijs Boelens has found out in his work to integrate heritage grains into the supply chain. Portrait by Adèle Pautrat.
Tijs Boelens didn’t grow up with heritage grains. When he started out as a market gardener at the De Groentelaar farm with three other people, he had little faith in them. Based on the knowledge he had at the time, yields of heritage grains seemed far too low to seriously consider reintegrating them into viable farming systems.
At the initiative of one of his colleagues, who was passionate about biodiversity, three local grain varieties were nonetheless sown on the farm. Tijs—curious and gradually inspired by his colleague’s seed-saving activities—began multiplying the Heliaro variety. Often mistaken for a traditional landrace because of its suitability for biodynamic farming, Heliaro actually combines a rustic appearance with the agronomic performance typical of modern wheat.
Treasures of the terroir—with technical constraints
Through his involvement in a Local Action Group, Tijs was invited in 2017 to take part in the Let’s Liberate Diversity forum, held at the Hayon farm in Belgium. There, he became aware of the true significance of the work he and his colleagues had been doing—somewhat naively—with heritage varieties, or landraces (‘variétés de pays’) as he prefers to call them.
“I realised that the key issue in what we do isn’t producing wheat in large quantities, but rather multiplying rare local varieties, which are a real treasure for the development of our regional terroirs.”
Through the Local Action Group, Tijs was already involved in a project to reconnect the region’s mills and bakeries with the production of local cereals. He considered using traditional varieties within this framework but quickly faced a technical and economic reality: the yields per hectare of ancient varieties were too low—mainly due to the limited availability of seeds and their lower productivity—to meet the production and processing requirements of the project.
I asked Tijs about the difference in yields between ancient and modern wheat. He gave me concrete figures: with ancient varieties, he currently harvests between 3 and 4 tons per hectare, compared to 6 to 8 tons per hectare in organic farming for modern varieties.
This imbalance makes the equation particularly complex: how to guarantee a fair income for farmers and an affordable price for consumers?
It’s particularly difficult for the bakery sector. Artisanal bread already fetches high prices—up to €6 for an organic sourdough loaf in Belgium—which limits accessibility, a problematic issue for a basic staple.
From baking in complexity to brewing a solution
Tijs then came up with the idea to turn to other partners: brewers. Unlike bread, beer can more easily be sold at a higher price—provided it is associated with a strong, meaningful story.
This is how he started a collaboration with the 3 Fonteinen brewery, located in the Pajottenland region. Seeds4All has already dedicated two articles to this project, which we invite you to read or reread: here and here.
At the time, Tijs chose the 3 Fonteinen because it produces lambic and gueuze, traditional beers historically brewed using the “petit rouge du Brabant,” a local wheat that Tijs was seeking to reintroduce in his region. The brewery, for its part, clearly wished to deepen its roots in the local terroir. The partnership between the two built around two complementary goals—the search for a lost wheat variety and the pursuit of terroir quality—anchored firmly in locality.
As part of this collaboration, Tijs and his partner Lucas van den Abeele (see the articles mentioned above) embarked on an extensive quest for heritage varieties. They gathered samples from gene banks, farms, and conservation associations across Belgium, England, Wales, Ireland, Georgia, France, and more.
The trials were conducted at the De Groentelaar farm, where season after season Tijs built a rich collection of varieties that he still stores today in refrigerators. His passion and commitment to cereal diversity officially took a central place in his work.
Tijs’s primary goal is not to create diversity for its own sake: he does not seek to develop or combine all the varieties he collects. What he aims for is the preservation and multiplication of landraces as well as other varieties he deems relevant according to conditions, uses, or needs he identifies locally.
“If you mix everything together, you lose key phenotypic specificities. You always have to be careful to conserve as many varieties intact as possible, while also experimenting with blends.”
His approach to variety management is based on dynamic management. Each year, Tijs selects certain varieties to cultivate depending on ongoing collaborations, specific requests from his partners—or simply his own interests. He recalls, for example, that one year his sole goal was to showcase a highly diverse selection of ancient wheat to the public as part of awareness-raising activities.
Fermenting local wheat, adapting to local tastes
Never short of projects, in 2019 Tijs decided to develop, in collaboration with the Brussels brewery De la Senne, a new beer which he named Teirf—a word from a Flemish dialect meaning “local wheat.”
After a few trials, the brewery decided not to continue with the project. Tijs explains the reasons as follows: with traditional varieties, it is difficult to create recipes that are perfectly reproducible, capable of guaranteeing a consistent taste from one batch to another.
This challenge was much less of an issue for the production of lambics and gueuzes, whose long fermentation—typical of these traditional beers—naturally causes variations from one batch to the next. This is even an integral part of the product’s identity. But for more standard beers, this instability is a major drawback in the minds of many brewers.
In 2023, after a break forced by the pandemic, Tijs revived the Teirf project with a new partner: the Belgoo brewery, located in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, just a few kilometres from his farm. This time, the collaboration took root. The beer was created, circulated, and won over consumers — today it can be found in organic grocery stores in Brussels. (And yes, we’ve tasted it: it’s definitely worth trying!)
Crafting a cooperative—and a peasant beer
Tijs’s ambitions don’t stop there. Thanks to networking in recent years, he is now surrounded by an increasing number of cereal growers, brewers, and bakers. His goal is to motivate them to create a cooperative dedicated to the promotion of products made from local varieties, grown and processed entirely locally.
Within this framework, for example, Teirf could become a type of beer rather than a brand or name — as with IPA for example. It would then embody a very particular identity: that of a peasant beer, based on a specification that values both cultivated biodiversity and wild biodiversity. Each member brewery of the cooperative could then produce its own version of Teirf.
In connection with this cooperative project, Tijs is currently in discussions with the network of artisan bakers (RAB — which brings together about twenty artisan bakeries from Wallonia and Brussels), two Flemish bakeries, one pizzeria, and several breweries. But rallying people around cultivated biodiversity is far from easy.
Motivating farmers, first and foremost, is a delicate task. As Tijs humorously puts it, “getting farmers moving is like trying to push a wheelbarrow full of frogs.” Solidarity among farmers certainly exists — despite decades of industrialisation that have weakened it. But solidarity does not automatically turn into cooperation. It takes time, listening, and a strong enough collective vision to inspire people to commit.
Convincing processors is no easier. Heritage varieties, often unstable during processing, require extensive adaptation. Adjusting recipes, rethinking working methods, revising infrastructure — all this demands specific technical expertise, time, and often investments that artisans cannot always afford.
Finally, consumers must be engaged. In a short supply chain without intermediaries, the connection between producers and consumers is direct. This requires full transparency and the ability to explain, persuade, and build loyalty.
Shaping a living narrative around shared convictions
According to Tijs, the sine qua non for the success of such a collective endeavour lies in the clarity and strength of the common goal. There must be a deep alignment of convictions, a shared vision that inspires trust and determination — because endurance and courage are needed to take on such a vast undertaking as transforming agri-food systems.
For Tijs, the symbolic dimension — what he calls “mythology” — is absolutely essential in any collective transition. Of course, scientific arguments, whether nutritional, agronomic, or ecological, play a role in demonstrating the value of alternative varieties. But in many cases, these arguments, however sound, remain too abstract or too disconnected from people’s everyday experiences.
What truly makes a difference and genuinely mobilises people is the story being told. A story rooted in real facts, enriched with anecdotes and gestures that may sometimes be partially reinvented but always carry meaning. It’s not about indulging in fiction for its own sake but about shaping a living narrative that speaks to the heart, builds connections, and inspires commitment.
Invisible ties take centre stage
In this spirit, Tijs has already collaborated with the multidisciplinary collective Future Farmers, whose performances and artistic interventions explore the visible and invisible links between humans and cereals.
The next performative project imagined by Future Farmers will take place next September, marking the inauguration of the very first mill installed inside a Brussels café, Café Mazette. This venue, already committed to making its own artisanal breads using natural sourdough, aims to go further in its quality standards and short supply chain approach by producing its own flour on-site too.
Tijs will supply them with the grains, and for the first delivery, the Future Farmers collective has conceived a staging that is both poetic and political: a boat will travel up the Senne canal from Hal to central Brussels, carrying sacks of grain. Once docked, a festive procession will take over, transporting the sacks to the Jeu de Balle square, where Café Mazette is located.
This powerful action highlights the invisible routes that connect rural areas to cities — especially regarding food supply. It embodies, both symbolically and concretely, the vital role of short supply chains and pays tribute to the work of local artisans who tirelessly strive to ensure the diversity and quality of the products we eat and drink.
Guided by goodwill and trust
In addition to being a passionate seed artisan, Tijs is truly a craftsman of the collective. To conduct this interview, I agreed to accompany him on his weekly delivery round in Brussels — because Tijs is also a market gardener, and his farm supplies vegetables to cafés and restaurants in the capital.
At every stop, the same scene plays out: smiles, handshakes, news about projects, laughter. It becomes clear that Tijs relies heavily on goodwill, trust, and the confidence he inspires in others to bring people together, spark collaborations, and persuade others to work with him — and with each other. Deep down, this may well be his guiding principle.
But this gift for building connections comes at a cost: it requires a great deal of time, and that time cannot be monetised. Tijs is fully aware of this, and is now paying increasing attention to the need to structure and sustainably fund his vision of a small-scale, farmer-led supply chain.
This September, we’ll have the pleasure of welcoming Tijs as one of the speakers at our workshop held as part of the 14th edition of the Let’s Liberate Diversity forum. Entitled Seed Diversity Down to Earth, the workshop will take a grounded look at the practical needs and bold ideas shaping the infrastructure, exchange systems, and public/private support needed to boost genetic diversity on farms and plates. See you there?
